British Arab and British South Asian diaspora writings in Ghada Karmi’s in search of Fatima : a Palestinian story and Yasmin Hai's the Making of Mr. Hai’s Daughter : Becoming British

Abstract EN

This essay makes the case for comparative analysis of Arab and South Asian female memoirs, focusing on the issue of diaspora and the problems involved in any diasporic experience.

Through a detailed analysis to Ghada Karmi's In Search of Fatima and Yasmin Hai's The Making of Mr.

Hai's Daughter, the study moves beyond national and cultural borders to highlight some of the shared political and aesthetic concerns of Arab and South Asian writers, especially concerning the case of diaspora, displacement and exile writings.

The study will deploy comparable literary tropes through addressing similar issues in these memoirs to prove that at least these similarities stem from a shared history of colonialism.

Further, drawing upon Homi Bhabha‘s influential ideas about colonial ambivalence, hybridity and "Third place", the paper will offer an account on some of the problems suffered by any colonised person who lives in a colonial society for a long time through a special focus on the authors' personal lives.

Finally, the paper will discuss the life of the female authors as being cultural mediators in the way they functioned as interpreters of the norms of their own cultures by revealing their personal stories as migrant writers.

The study will conclude that Karmi's and Hai's diasporic experiences are unique in a way that they focused on the positive perspective of this experience