Exiles and Their Ethico-political Responsibility:
Written in the form of a memoir, Shaila Abdullah’s novel Saffron Dreams (2009) is the fictional representation of a young Pakistani-US Muslim young woman who lost her husband in the terrorist attack of 9/11. So presumably, contemporary realities such as rising Islamophobia in America, ethno-racial...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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ULAB Press
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Crossings |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.ulab.edu.bd/index.php/crossings/article/view/563 |
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| Summary: | Written in the form of a memoir, Shaila Abdullah’s novel Saffron Dreams (2009) is the fictional representation of a young Pakistani-US Muslim young woman who lost her husband in the terrorist attack of 9/11. So presumably, contemporary realities such as rising Islamophobia in America, ethno-racial violence against Muslims, brewing tensions between mainstream Americans and Muslim immigrants are some of the main issues the book deals with. This paper focuses on the ethical-political responsibilities that exiles perform in their host country (USA). I argue that Abdullah’s novel, through fictional representation, shows that exiles have agency and they play significant ethical-political roles in their host country, especially by representing (or imagining) their community. Borrowing ‘exile’ theorization of Edward Said and Ashwini Vasanthakumar, first I will focus on the definition and function of the exile and then will examine how this human condition sketched in Saffron Dreams is ‘exilic’ by those definitions. I will illustrate how and to what extent the protagonist plays the ethical-political responsibility for Muslim community, and why that matters so much.
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| ISSN: | 2071-1107 2958-3179 |