Crumbling under the disciplinary gaze : power relations and the illusion of freedom in Sheila Abdullah's saffron dreams and Laila Halaby's once in a promised land, a Foucauldian reading
Other Title(s)
الإنهيار أمام النظرة الرافضة : علاقات القوى و توهم الحرية في روايتي ذات مرة في الأرض الموعودة و أحلام الزعفران لليلى حلبي و شيلا عبد الله : قراءة فوكودية
Author
Source
Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University
Issue
Vol. 44, Issue - (31 Mar. 2016), pp.513-544, 32 p.
Publisher
Ain Shams University Faculty of Arts
Publication Date
2016-03-31
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
32
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Discipline has been a basic constituent of life ever since the first man and woman came to earth with a legacy of resistance, an awareness of their subjectivity and the knowledge that being watched will always be a part of life.
After the Towers' disaster, the need ensued to subject Muslims to the gaze of the American nation.
In their novels, Laila Halaby and Shaila Abdullah depict USA after the disaster.
This paper, besides translating and introducing the texts into Arabic, investigates the new forms the exercise of power takes shifting and changing relations among and between individuals and institutions.
The American society abounds with judges of normalcy who tighten the standards and exclude people on new terms.
Foucault's novel understandings of basic concepts give the framework for this paper.
"Normative judgments", "metaphysical and political freedom" and "force relations" help interpret the personal experiences of the characters, while "biopower" highlights the difference between the policies of their governments.
Parallel to the discourse of discipline that characterizes US society, goes that of fate in Jordan and Pakistan, where predestination negates personal freedom and "fate" helps refer the misfortunes that befall countries as a result of the absence of a clear, biopolitical agenda to the discourse of religion.
Lack of organization appears in the overlap between discourses; the religious discourse overlaps other discourses.
American citizens are subject to constraints that organize public behavior while Jordanians and Pakistanis are burdened with historical constraints that target personal life.
Instead of liberating their true selves from under the debris of fallen kingdoms, they wear their subjectivities like iron masks, abiding by the traditions of countries they chose to abandon.
Others expand their hearts cherishing both homelands using Foucault's "arts of the self" and detach themselves from cultural barriers to form true, instead of disciplinary subjectivities.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Ahmad, Nabilah Ali Marzuq. 2016. Crumbling under the disciplinary gaze : power relations and the illusion of freedom in Sheila Abdullah's saffron dreams and Laila Halaby's once in a promised land, a Foucauldian reading. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University،Vol. 44, no. -, pp.513-544.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-852088
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Ahmad, Nabilah Ali Marzuq. Crumbling under the disciplinary gaze : power relations and the illusion of freedom in Sheila Abdullah's saffron dreams and Laila Halaby's once in a promised land, a Foucauldian reading. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University Vol. 44 (Jan. / Mar. 2016), pp.513-544.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-852088
American Medical Association (AMA)
Ahmad, Nabilah Ali Marzuq. Crumbling under the disciplinary gaze : power relations and the illusion of freedom in Sheila Abdullah's saffron dreams and Laila Halaby's once in a promised land, a Foucauldian reading. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University. 2016. Vol. 44, no. -, pp.513-544.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-852088
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Record ID
BIM-852088