Representation of Problems or Problematic Representation: Three Middle Eastern American Plays

Year 2020, Issue: 30, 35 - 52, 07.07.2020

Nazila Heıdarzadegan

https://doi.org/10.26650/jtcd.698395

Abstract

Several theatric performances have explored the consequences of ‘war on terror’ after 9/11 all over the world. This paper provides insights into how Middle Eastern American dramatists and characters responded to the war and above it to post-9/11 era via exploring how Middle Easterners in American context were stereotyped, transformed into problematic subjects, resisted backlashing policies, and to what extent their lives were influenced by fallout effects of the event by reading between the lines according to Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial concepts, however, there is no direct reference to the event in three dramas namely Browntown, Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, and Nine Parts of Desire.
This paper argues for the necessity of understanding and recognizing hyphenated people in mainstream context and approaching the problem in terms of negotiation instead of negation of hyphenated identities to avoid potential identity problems which may lead to social problems. It calls the dramatists for artistic productions to claim recognition of their identity and correcting the distorted images to prevent their transformation into problematic realms.

Keywords

postcolonialism, Middle Eastern American Theatre, Bhabha

Supporting Institution

-

Project Number

-

Thanks

many thanks to the prestigious journal of theatre.

Sunum Sorun veya Sorun Sunumu: Üç Ortadogu Kokenli Amerikan Tiyatrosunda Basmakalip İmajları

Abstract

Bazı tiyatro gösterileri tüm dünyada 11 Eylül'den sonra “terörle savaş” ın sonuçlarını araştırdı. Bu çalışma, Orta Doğu Amerikalı dramatistlerinin ve karakterlerinin savaşa ve bunun üstündeki 9/11 sonrası döneme Amerikan bağlamında Ortadoğuluların nasıl kalıplaşmış, sorunlu konulara dönüştüğü, geri tepme politikalarına nasıl direndiğini ve ne ölçüde direndiğini keşfederek hayatları, Homi Bhabha'nın postkolonyal kavramlarına göre satırlar arasında okuyarak etkinliğin serpinti etkilerinden etkilendi, ancak Browntown, Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, ve Nine Parts of Desire üzere üç dramada olaya doğrudan bir referans yok. Arzu
Bu makale, sosyalleştirilmiş sorunlara yol açabilecek potansiyel kimlik sorunlarından kaçınmak için tireli kimlikleri reddetmek yerine tirelenmiş insanları ana akım bağlamında anlama ve tanıma ve soruna müzakere açısından yaklaşma gereğini tartışmaktadır. Dramatistleri sanatsal prodüksiyonlara kimliklerinin tanındığını iddia etmeye ve sorunlu alemlere dönüşmelerini önlemek için çarpık görüntüleri düzeltmeye çağırıyor.

Keywords

sömürgesonrası, Bhabha, ortadoğu kökenli Amerikan tiyatro, sunum

Project Number

-

References

• Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.
• Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
• Ashcroft Bill, Griffiths Gareth, Tiffin Helen. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, 2002.
• Ashcroft Bill, Griffiths Gareth, Tiffin Helen. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, 2006.
• Ashcroft Bill, Griffiths Gareth, Tiffin Helen. Post-Colonialism: The Key Concepts (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, 2007.
• Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.
• Bilici, Mucahit. Finding Mecca in America: How Islam is Becoming an American Religion. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 2012.
• Clifford, James. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
• Cornell, Vincent. J.. Voices of Islam: Voices of Art, Beauty, and Science (Vol. 4). London: Praeger Publishers, 2007.
• El Guindi, Youssef. Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.asjournal. org/52-2008/the-theatre-of-yussef-el-guindi/
• Eng, David. L. and Kazanjian, David. Loss: The Politics of Mourning. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
• Esposito, John. L.. The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks (R. Philcox, Trans.). New York: Grove Press Inc., 2008.
• Hafez, Sherine. An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic Movements. New York: New York University Press, 2011.
• Hill, Holly and Amin, Dina. Salaam. Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama (1st ed.). New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2009.
• Mahmood, Saba. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.
• Malak, Amin. Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
• McCann, Carole Ruth and Kim, Seung-Kyung. Feminist theory reader: Local and global perspectives. London: Routledge, 2013.
• Parry, Nigel. The Perfect Antidote to the War on Terror. (2006). Retrieved from http://electronicintifada.net/ content/perfect-antidote-war-terror/5856
• Raffo, Heather. Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 2006.
• Wu, Jean Yuwen Shen and Chen, Thomas. Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press,