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The Chimalpahin Conference 2007: Colonial and Post-Colonial Remembering and Forgetfulness October 16 - 18, 200 7
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Violence,
Space, and Identity in Etel Adnan’s Sitt Marie-Rose Yasmin Kronfli African-American Literature Hood College In this paper, I will argue that in Etel Adnan’s Sitt
Marie-Rose violence occurs in response to and as a result of religious,
economic, and gendered spaces because space is systematically structured
to require a clear identity although it exists in a multinational and
multicultural setting. My paper will discuss connections and examples from the
novel that force identity to become interdependent on power which becomes
interdependent on control which is achieved through violence against the
identity of the ‘other.’ The
memory of colonialism imposes itself on the Lebanese population to such an
extent that a powerful, lasting identity becomes necessary in the struggle
to claim a permanent and legitimate space of one’s own. My paper will
consist of a comprehensive analysis of interconnection between violence,
space, and identity in Etel’s Adnan’s novel.
About
Yasmin Kronfil Born in Khartoum, Sudan but being of Middle Eastern
ethnicity makes me personally familiar with the borders and boundaries
created not just by physical space but by the religious, historical, and
political memories that seem cemented into my country’s subconscious and
conscious framework. My family is “white” Arab Christian among a
“black” Arab Muslim majority in Sudan.
The military coup of 1989 forced my family to flee our homeland of
three generations and settle, however abruptly, in the United States of
America. Using my parent’s struggle and sacrifice as a springboard,
I was able to attend the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and
major in English Literature. Currently
I am earning my M.A. in Humanities with a concentration in
African-American Literature at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland.
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