From Trail of Tears in Pushing the Bear to Nakba in Minor Detail

Abstract

Writing is an excellent means of exorcism, especially for the marginalized. However, more importantly, it is a form of resistance by the word. Both Adania Shibli and Diane Glancy, Palestinian and Native American writers, feel the urge to narrate the story of their people. This research delves into dramatic themes of cultural tragedy and resilience as represented in literature. Diane Glancy's Pushing the Bear (1996), sheds insight into Native Americans' horrific experiences and removal from their homeland. Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail (2017/2020) provides a profound analysis of the repeated challenges that occur in the face of constant peril. The comparative analysis suggests connections between the catastrophes experienced by Palestinians and Native Americans. It reveals the shared experiences of displacement, dispossession, and cultural resilience through juxtaposition, emphasizing the universality of human suffering.

Highlights:

1- The paper’s comparative examination implies links among the calamities faced by Palestinians and Native Americans.

2- The paper highlights the common experiences of displacement, dispossession, and cultural resilience through contrast, underscoring the universal nature of human suffering.

3- The paper provides literary works inundated with the thematic parallels highlighting the challenges faced by Native American and Palestinian communities under colonial subjugation.

4- The paper highlights how the two novels frame their suffering as an ongoing structure of violence, erasure, and surveillance rather than a closed historical event.

5- The paper’s analysis highlights how Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail as a novel utilizes a "language of corporeality" and focuses on overlooked sensory details to challenge official military archives and document the visceral, lived experience of the Palestinian Nakba