An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics
Authors:

Article info

2019-11-18
2020-05-17
651 - 667

Keywords

  • Estrangement
  • Palestinian National Narrative
  • Identity Politics
  • Affiliation
  • Detachment
  • Reconstruction
  • Subjectivity

Abstract

This study aims to trace the construction of affiliations and modes of belonging in Out of Place (1999) by Edward Said, in conjunction with his other works, that transgress real connections and present realities, and challenge the coherence of conventional notions of identity and detachment. It argues that Said reassesses his attachments and collective identity politics, not by rejecting his filiations but by finding a way to reconstruct or retrieve them. By thinking of Said and Darwish contrapuntally, this paper shows that Said works through these detachments, and moves between multiple identities to reconstruct a ‘filiative’ personal narrative which in turn contributes to the (re)-construction of a whole Palestinian national narrative. Building on Benedict Anderson’s concept of nationality, this paper illustrates that the national self emerges from the destabilisation of a unified, coherent subjectivity; it comes out of an “estrangement” and detachment from one’s self. Anderson explains that “nationality is necessarily an effect of the narratives we tell in the face of an incoherent sense of one’s self, a literal alienation from one’s self” (1991: 204). This detachment allows Said to open himself to the deeply disorganised state of his real history and origins, and to re- construct and form them to form in a historical experience, piecing together all the different narrative fragments to understand what really happened in Palestine in 1948 and beyond (Said, 1999: 6).

Recommended Citation

Qabaha, A. (2022). The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics. An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), 36(3), 651–667. https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007
[1]A. Qabaha, “The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics,” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 651–667, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.35552/0247-036-003-007.
Qabaha, Ahmad. “The Rhetoric of Detachment and Collective Identity Politics in out of Place by Edward Said: Transcending Modernist Aesthetics.” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), vol. 36, no. 3, Mar. 2022, pp. 651–67. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007.
1.Qabaha A. The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics. An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities) [Internet]. 2022 Mar;36(3):651–67. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007
Qabaha, Ahmad. “The Rhetoric of Detachment and Collective Identity Politics in out of Place by Edward Said: Transcending Modernist Aesthetics.” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities) 36, no. 3 (March 2022): 651–67. https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007.

بلاغة الإنعزال وسياسة الهوية الجماعية في سيرة إدوارد سعيد خارج المكان: تخطي جماليات الحداثة
المؤلفون:

معلومات المقال

2019-11-18
2020-05-17
651 - 667

الكلمات الإفتتاحية

  • Estrangement
  • Palestinian National Narrative
  • Identity Politics
  • Affiliation
  • Detachment
  • Reconstruction
  • Subjectivity

الملخص

تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تتبع بناء الانتماءات، وطرق الانتماء، في سيرة إدوارد سعيد الذاتية خارج المكان الذي يناقش الروابط الحقيقية ويتحدى تماسك المفاهيم التقليدية للهوية والانفصال. تجادل هذه الورقة بأن سعيد مثل صديقه محمود درويش يعيد تقييم إنتماءاته وسياسات الهوية الجماعية. هذا ليس برفضه للهوية الأصلية بل عن طريق إيجاد طريقة لإعادة بنائها أو استعادتها. توضح هذه الورقة أن إنتقال سعيد بين الهويات المتعددة يهدف إلى سرد روايته الفردية الذي يسهم بدوره في إعادة سرد القصة الوطنية الفلسطينية ككل. بناءً على مفهوم بنديكت أندرسون للجنسية ، توضح هذه الورقة أن الذات الوطنية تنبثق من زعزعة استقرار ذاتية موحدة ومتماسكة؛ إنها تأتي من "انفصال" عن الذات. يشرح أندرسون أن "الجنسية هي بالضرورة تأثير للروايات التي نرويها في مواجهة شعور عدم التماسك، والنفور من الذات" (1991: 204). يتيح هذه الانفصال لسعيد إعادة قراءة وفهم تاريخه وأصوله، وأن يبنيها من أجل إعادة بناء تجربة تاريخية وتجميع جميع الأجزاء السردية المختلفة لفهم ما حدث بالفعل في فلسطين في عام 1948 وما بعده (سعيد، 1999: 6).

Recommended Citation

Qabaha, A. (2022). The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics. An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), 36(3), 651–667. https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007
[1]A. Qabaha, “The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics,” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 651–667, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.35552/0247-036-003-007.
Qabaha, Ahmad. “The Rhetoric of Detachment and Collective Identity Politics in out of Place by Edward Said: Transcending Modernist Aesthetics.” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities), vol. 36, no. 3, Mar. 2022, pp. 651–67. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007.
1.Qabaha A. The rhetoric of detachment and collective identity politics in out of place by Edward Said: transcending modernist aesthetics. An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities) [Internet]. 2022 Mar;36(3):651–67. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007
Qabaha, Ahmad. “The Rhetoric of Detachment and Collective Identity Politics in out of Place by Edward Said: Transcending Modernist Aesthetics.” An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities) 36, no. 3 (March 2022): 651–67. https://doi.org/10.35552/0247-036-003-007.

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