Hybridity and Muslim Identity in Selected Novels by Leila Aboulela

Abstract

This dissertation explores how hybridity is constructed in relation to Muslim identity in Leila Aboulela’s selected works: Lyrics Alley (2010), and The Kindness of Enemies (2015). The study traces the concept of hybridity in postcolonial studies by a cluster of such prominent figures as Homi Bhabha, Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak and other critics. The concept of hybridity is approached with an aim of tracing its manifestations in the interrelated linguistic and cultural aspects of Aboulela’s novels. However, for the sake of convenience in the study and the analysis of the texts, the thesis is divided into two parts under the subtitles of: linguistic hybridity and the cultural hybridity. The introduction provides a brief outline of the two main components of the thesis, namely, hybridity and Muslim identity. The first chapter tackles the concept of hybridity as formulated by leading post-colonial theorists. Chapter two examines linguistic hybridity as manifested in the novels Lyrics Alley (2010) and The Kindness of Enemies (2015). Chapter three deals with hybridity on the cultural level in the above-mentioned novels: Lyrics Alley and The Kindness of Enemies. As for the conclusion, it sums up the findings of the thesis.