Tracing the relationship between cultural blending and identity formation in Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World

Abstract

The conflict between Israel and Palestine has long been a sort of crucible of political trauma, its impacts that extends to the individual as well as collective identities. This research embarks on an exploration of the complex relationship of cultural blending and identity formation within the narratives of Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World. The concept of hybridity proposed by Homi. K. Bhaba has been taken as research methodology for this research. Hybridity is the concept that challenges the conventional and orthodox notions of cultural purity and fixed identities. This novel follows the story of the protagonist Nahr, a Palestinian woman who bears various troubles and hardships as she goes through personal and political struggles. The novel discovers the themes of love, resistance, identity crisis, confrontation and the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the lives of individuals and their identities. Abulhawa creates a strong narrative that explores the intricacies of protagonist’s life and the wider context of the struggle of Palestinian people for justice and freedom. The main objective of this research is to show the characters in the novel that how they negotiate their identities through cultural blending amid political trauma. Qualitative research method has been adopted for the present research engaging textual analysis.