Being the other: multiculturalism, diaspora and search of identity in Diana Abu-Jaber's novels

In relation to the inevitable result of Colonialism, as in the case of other ethnic groups, immigrants with Arab roots have also been expected to be assimilated into the mainstream, Anglo-American society, disregarding their rooted culture and social values. Diana Abu-Jaber, as a Jordanian American novelist and professor at Portland State University, accentuates upon the themes of multiculturalism, diaspora and search of identity in her novels whilst elaborating the psyche of in-between identities. Protagonists in Abu-Jaber's novels struggle to reinvent their own selves whilst trying to preserve their both Arab and American identities. Abu-Jaber puts forward the claim that exiles must reinvent their selves by embracing the duality of Arab American identity without being disloyal to either. Within this context, the thesis study aims to explore the dilemma between the old and the new identity as the inevitable result of multicultural structure and diaspora, in Abu-Jaber's two significant novels, Arabian Jazz (1993) and Crescent (2003). Another concern is to introduce Diana Abu-Jaber to Turkish readers as an influential novelist of the Postcolonial and Arab American literature. In this context, this thesis evaluates the identity problem in Abu-Jaber's two novels, within the frame of the Postcolonial theory. Regarding the results of Colonialism, an analysis is intended to be carried out about the Western perception of the East, and the complexity of identity in Mahjar literature, including how exiles could digest the "hyphen" and reconstruct the concept of "home" by centering upon Edward W. Said's critical theory, Orientalism, and alluding to the ideas of other significant pillars of the Postcolonial theory.