The Other in Contemporary Arab Culture and Society : Longing to Belong

This book by Dalya Cohen-Mor explores the issue of the Other in Arab culture and society as mirrored in modern Arabic literature. Drawing on insights from identity studies, cultural studies, women’s studies, and analyzing in depth a large corpus of texts from modern Arabic literature, this work provides a vivid account of how otherness is produced, experienced, and contested in Arab society.

The Other in Contemporary Arab Culture and Society: Longing to Belong offers a comparative study of both internal and external Others in Arab society, to use the concept of the Other to shed light on the parameters of Arab identity and self-definition, and to focus on the relationship with the Other to explore the dynamics of Arab culture and society. The selection of literary works includes autobiographical novels, novels, novellas, short stories, and poems by contemporary writers, both male and female, from across the Middle East. The analysis highlights the ways in which literary texts critique, complicate, or modify stereotypical representations of the Other, illustrates the values and orientations of Arab society, and assesses the agency of literature and its power to raise public awareness and shape reality.