Arab-American Identity Crisis as Manifest in Diana Abu Jaber’s Arabian Jazz

This research paper examines Arab American identity crisis and how this hyphenated identity went through a process of formation during the last decades of the twentieth century. This will be done through giving a detailed analysis of Diana Abu Jaber's Arabian Jazz (1993). This novel shows the Arab Americans' struggle to find a stable identity for themselves within both the American and Arab communities. The analysis will be focused on the dilemma of two Arab Americans sisters who are torn between two worlds: the first is their Arab world, or Old country, to whose beliefs and traditions they cannot fully belong ,and the second is the American society which they try to fit in but find it hard to fully assimilate to it because of racism and marginalization. In the novel the researcher highlights major recurrent themes of hyphenation, displacement, and marginalization of Arab Americans. Also, through giving a detailed analysis of the novel, the researcher will show how the theoretical implication of Western/US feminism and the Arab American feminism are playing out.