Unravelling Diaspora in Heather Raffo’s Noura: A Postcolonial Perspective

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

Department of English Language, Faculty of Arts, Kafr El Sheikh University

المستخلص

This paper argues that Heather Raffo’s Noura (2019) is an instantiation of the Iraqi-American theatre representing postcolonial diaspora. An attempt to bridge the gap between American and Middle Eastern cultures, the play is well regarded as a response to Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Drawing on the theoretical framework of diaspora, the paper reveals miscellaneous themes such as panic, hysteria, violence, nostalgia, alienation, and hybridity. In doing so, it attempts to answer the following question: How far is Raffo’s Noura delineated as an instantiation of the postcolonial diasporic Iraqi-American theatre? The paper has reached the following findings. First, cultural diaspora is argued to have led to utilizing a great deal of Arabic words/expressions that may be entextualized with the passage of time. Second, Raffo was demonstrated to have reconfigured Ibsen’s view of marriage and motherhood by posing her own novel one for discussion through the open-end technique. Third, it was revealed that the playwright has managed to upend the dramatic conventions of gender roles by expanding the role of the wife and marginalizing that of the husband.   
يناقش البحث الحالي مسرحية نورا (2019) للكاتبة "هيذر رافو" كمماثَلة للمسرح الأمريكي العراقي الذي يجسد شتات ما بعد الاستعمار. وحيث إنها كُتبت كمحاولة لسد الفجوة بين الثقافتين الأمريكية والشرق أوسطية، جاءت نورا كردٍ على مسرحية بيت الدُمية للكاتب النرويجي "هنريك إبسن." واعتمادًا على الإطار النظري لمفهوم الشتات، كشف البحث عن موضوعات متنوعة مثل الهلع والهستيريا والعنف والحنين إلى الماضي والاغتراب والتهجين. وإزاء ذلك يحاول البحث الإجابة عن التساؤل التالي: كيف تم تصوير مسرحية نورا للكاتبة "هيذر رافو" كمماثلة للمسرح الأمريكي العراقي الذي تناول شتات ما بعد الاستعمار؟ وقد توصَّل البحث إلى النتائج التالية. أولاً: أدى الشتات الثقافي بدوره إلى استخدام كم هائل من الكلمات والتعابير العربية التي يمكن أن تدخل في اللغة الإنجليزية بمرور الوقت. ثانيًا، أعادت "رافو" النظر في رؤية "إبسن" للزواج والأمومة بطرحها رؤيتها الخاصة غير المألوفة للمناقشة من خلال النهاية المفتوحة للمسرحية. ثالثًا، تمكنت الكاتبة من قلب الأعراف الدرامية الخاصة بأدوار الجنسين رأسًا على عقب بتوسيع دور الزوجة وتهميش دور الزوج.

الكلمات الرئيسية

الموضوعات الرئيسية


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