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Black Arabs and Blackness in the Contemporary Arab Fiction
Abstract by Dr. Wijdan Alsayegh On Session VI-25  (Tracing Race)

On Thursday, December 2 at 11:30 am

2021 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The monograph draws attention to the recent conditions of Black Arabs socially, economically, and politically through the lenses of Arabic novels and inspects the ways in which social and physiological blackness are employed and portrayed in Arabic novels with Black protagonists. This monograph illustrates through the Arabic novels how culture has made distinctions among Arab people based on their race. However, the black Arabs’ issue is still marginalized by a collective cultural consciousness and social stratification. In short, it opens the door wide for a large segment of black Arabs who exist in different Arabic cultures that deal with them in different levels of lack of social and human rights. This phenomenon clearly appears in contemporary Arab literature, specifically Arabic novels which were written by bold writers who utilize the fictional techniques such as characters, protagonists, plots, dialogue, monologue, etc., to explore their condemnations the humiliation of black Arabs and their racial social segregation. This monograph argues that Arabic narration highlights the social and political segregation of black Arabs by: 1) Employing fictional techniques to intensify the light on the psychological impact of this social marginalization practice on Black Arabs and to reflect their frustrations and disappointments; 2) Reflecting the justifications of the Arab social classes’ racial practice towards black Arabs; 3) Exposing the social stratification that has placed black Arabs in social segregation and deprived them of their normal social role; 4) Exploring the Arab novelist’s perspective towards the black Arabs and their stereotype among the Arab society. The study sources are the selected novels that reflect the new paradigm of the racial system that relies on black skin and discovers the interconnection between the racial ideology and the Arab society especially; first, it inspects the racialization of the social structure of Arab countries, particularly through the different Arab cultures.; second, it explores the factors causing the marginalization of Black Arabs, and their social segregation. The monograph utilizes Arabic novels which were published after 2000 to highlight black Arabs’ sufferings by analyzing the connection between the narration and racial ideology to demonstrate the racialization. More specifically, the research uses direct quotes from these Arabic novels to depict the bold literary movement that has taken place in different Arab countries such as Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia to liberate the Black Arabs from social segregation and stereotypes.
Discipline
Literature
Geographic Area
None
Sub Area
None