Troubling Cultural Narratives: Discourse of Interculturality in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Arabian Jazz and Susan Darraj’s The Inheritance of Exile: Stories from South Philly

Abstract

In an era marked by growing cultural fluidity and global mobility, narrow nationalist narratives face heightened scrutiny, particularly for their role in perpetuating epistemic violence. Against this backdrop, this article investigates how Diana Abu-Jaber’s (2003) Arabian Jazz and Susan Darraj’s The Inheritance of Exile: Stories from South Philly (2007) (henceforth, The Inheritance of Exile) interrogate and disrupt dominant cultural paradigms, positioning interculturality as a transformative framework for understanding the nuances of cultural exchange in Arab American literature. By exploring the multiplicity of narrative voices in these works, the article critiques the exclusionary and insular discourses inherent in nationalist ideologies, advancing interculturality as a dynamic counter-narrative that reimagines cultural interaction. The analysis demonstrates how these literary texts reconceptualise notions of citizenship and belonging, portraying them as fluid, diverse, and ever-evolving. This critique challenges stringent binaries that seek to define contemporary American identity, offering instead a vision of identity that embraces complexity and interconnectedness. By situating its discussion within the realm of fiction, the article highlights the adaptive and generative potential of interculturality, advocating its value as a critical lens for fostering deeper understanding and meaningful engagement in a globalised world.

Highlights:

1. The article examines how Arab American fiction interrogates and disrupts dominant nationalist and exclusionary cultural narratives through the lens of interculturality.
2. It develops interculturality as a transformative analytical framework that reimagines cultural exchange, citizenship, and belonging as fluid and dynamic constructs.
3. Through a comparative analysis of Arabian Jazz and The Inheritance of Exile, the study reveals how literary narratives challenge rigid binaries such as compatibility vs. incompatibility and assimilation vs. exclusion.
4. The research highlights the role of gender and intergenerational dynamics in shaping intercultural identity, particularly the experiences of Arab American women navigating cultural negotiation.
5. The findings demonstrate that interculturality functions as a critical, dialogic process that enables hybrid identities and fosters more inclusive, non-essentialist understandings of cultural belonging in a globalised context.