What is it about?
The study examines Naomi Shihab Nye's position on biculturalism, which is viewed as both complex and straightforward, as reflected in many of her poems, especially those pertaining to her dual heritage: the Arab-American.
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Why is it important?
The study examines Naomi Shihab Nye's position on biculturalism, which is viewed as both complex and straightforward, as reflected in many of her poems, especially those pertaining to her dual heritage: the Arab-American; and some of her interviews and prose works. The basic premise, on which the study is built, is that while there are some anxieties or tensions in the world that Nye depicts, regarding her dual heritage, Nye is largely not only comfortable with biculturalism, and with hyphenated-identity, but celebratory of it. One reason behind this is Nye's postmodernism (a movement which comes to recognize and celebrate bi-and multiculturalism); another is Nye's cosmopolitanism, which is perhaps the large context of her biculturalism.
Perspectives
Nye's biculturalism and her cosmopolitanism in her poetry are, clearly, a product of her bi- (even multi-) cultural and racial family: a Palestinian father, who is very aware and assertive of his roots, a very tolerant mother, and grandparents on both ends who – through they have some tensions regarding place and culture – do ultimately accept it. It is due to these tensions and celebrations, acceptance and some resistance, that Nye's sense of biculturalism is both complex and unique. Nye's sense of bicultural (even multicultural) identity is close to that explained by Amin Maalouf. According to Maalouf, one's identity cannot be divided up or compartmentalized, no matter of how many layers or components it is made up.
Professor Wafa Awni Alkhadra
American University of Madaba
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Identity in Naomi Shihab Nye : The Dynamics of Biculturalism, Dirasat Human and Social Sciences, February 2013, Al Manhal FZ, LLC,
DOI: 10.12816/0000628.
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