The Journey Within: The Formation of Feminine Diasporic Identity in Leila Aboulela’s Bird Summons
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Date
2023-06
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UNIVERSITE MOHAMED BOUDIAF M'SILA
Abstract
The following thesis attempts to dissect the aspect of formulating a new sense of
belonging in Leila Aboulela’s Bird Summons (2019). Through the examination of the
diasporic discourse, contemporary storytelling for minorities shifts their conscience to be
under a state of unhinged existence while identity itself creates a lapse that results in the loss
of its subjects. The story takes place in Scotland, where all three main story companions
fluctuate in attempting to find a new meaning for their existence in other surroundings. The
purpose of visiting the Grave of the first Scottish and British Muslim woman, Evelyn
Cobbold, pinpoints the test to unravel their own memories and experiences for the reforging
process. Their search for the intertwined sense, harmonizes them once again. The analysis of
the story adopts cultural studies as the main approach for its proximity and relevance to the
diasporic context. This qualitative research aims to highlight the struggles, in which the
diasporic individual faces. Where it leads the individual to trace and reform the point of
reference that connects them with their own likeness. Aboulela’s mode of storytelling
conveys the presence of identity through a different lens using magical elements and a focal
point, which aids in crafting a new presence that grants the potential for a new dawning
belonging without mediating the precarious past.
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Keywords
Diasporic discourse - Cultural studies – Minorities – Identity