McCarron's latest publication, titled "The Wounded Tigris: A River Journey through the Cradle of Civilization," provides a thought-provoking and emotionally impactful narrative of an expedition, which is characterized by a blend of joy, and melancholy. While the narrative uses the travelogue tradition, it serves as a tribute to Iraq's diverse history culture and prosperous past, yet more fundamentally, it serves as a warning narrative. The vital essence of ancient Mesopotamia and contemporary Iraq is perishing. The convergence of geopolitics and climate change poses a significant threat, rendering extensive areas of the Fertile Crescent unsuitable for human habitation. Despite his desire to navigate the entire river by boat, this endeavor proves unattainable due to political and physical impediments. As he observes, "Within a distance of less than thirty miles, the Tigris river has already undergone severe alterations, including being severed, diverted, and inundated to the point where its original state is no longer recognizable." The river serves as a metaphor for the condition of Iraq, ravaged and compromised by prolonged warfare and administration inadequacies. McCarron refers to the deterioration of Iraqis' interpersonal relationships and their illustrious historical heritage. Within the book, he offers recollections of ancient civilizations, commencing from the origin of the Tigris river, where the pictures of Assyrian monarchs were meticulously engraved onto stone. References to a distant history frequently transition into accounts of the ongoing challenges faced by the river and the individuals it has benefited for thousands of years.Using a postcolonial ecocritical lens, the paper aims to trace the allegorical significance of the river in this work.

This paper explores the symbolic significance of rivers in Susan Abulhawa’s novel The Blue Between Sky and Water, particularly in shaping the journey of displacement experienced by the main characters, the Baraka family, from their village of Beit Daras to Gaza during the 1948 Nakba. The rivers, especially the River Suqreir flowing through Beit Daras to the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza, serve as potent symbols of life, knowledge, and connection to the land in Palestinian culture. For example, one of the protagonists of the novel, Mariam meets her imaginary friend Khaled by the River Suqreir to teach her how to write and read, yet her friendship with Khaled is disrupted by the violence of colonial settlers. Through an analysis of key river-related motifs, this paper argues that rivers also symbolize the passage of time, the cyclical nature of life, and the resilience of the Palestinian people and most importantly their journey towards homelessness and dislocation. By examining the rich symbolism of rivers, this paper investigates how Abulhawa uses natural elements to convey themes of identity, memory, and resistance in Palestinian literature. Trauma theory is consulted to understand how the river journey, particularly the River Suqreir, represents knowledge, hope, life, and resilience amidst the trauma of expulsion, displacement, and homelessness, an intervention extending the analysis of trauma theory to temples from the Global South.

This paper will present the interplay of Nubian Arabic literature with the Nile River, which is has been the lifeline for Nubian communities for centuries before their forced displacement in the late 20th century. The Nubian peoples have inhabited the area of what is now considered south of Egypt and northern Sudan for centuries. Their existence in this region has revolved around one fluid entity, the Nile River. The Nile overwhelmingly exists in Nubian culture and heritage, from mythology to birth and death rituals to traditional dances. The Nile's proximity was vital to Nubian peoples because their livelihood depended on it, and they shared a deep spiritual connection with its water. Therefore, Nubians also centralized all their daily practices around sustaining this river in its purest form. These traditions all came to an abrupt in the 1960s, when the High Dam and Lake Nasser were established under the rule of Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. This rendered Nubians a diasporic people, scattered in villages east of Aswan, in Cairo and Alexandria, and around the world. Yet, the non-tangible traditions, like storytelling, singing, and dancing, that were revolved around the Nile, continued to exist in practice and in memory. Nubian people had to rely on personal and collective memories to sustain their relationship with their now drowned lands. The Nile River represents the long journey Nubians had to go through to transition from their communal life to their diasporic reality. Namely, this paper will look at the two short stories by Nubian writers, which are Haggag Oddoul’s “The River People” and Yahya Mukhtar’s “The Nile Bride.” The narratives have core common features: they centralize water bodies as critical sites of events, they depend heavily on the retelling of history and mythology, and they are told predominantly from the perspective of women. The two writers weave rememory, history, and mythology to produce these narratives. They attempt to rewrite history through storytelling and represent the journeys of their female protagonists and their families in this pivotal historical moment. This paper utilizes theories of memory studies, gender, and psychology to decipher the work of rememory in the three narratives and give a fresh account of indigenous and diasporic African cultural expression.

In Naguib Mahfouz's novel Adrift on the Nile (1966), the timeless and ever-flowing waters of the Nile River serve as a central motif, symbolizing both continuity and change in the lives of its characters. As they drift along the Nile, they are confronted with the profound dichotomy between the eternal flow of the river and the fleeting nature of human existence. The river acts as a metaphorical mirror, reflecting their inner struggles and transformations amidst the complexities of modern Egyptian society.As a liminal space, Nile becomes a threshold between the familiar shores of Cairo and the enigmatic depths of the river. This liminality encapsulates the characters' journey of self-discovery and cultural encounter as they navigate the tumultuous waters of their own desires and disillusionments. The leisurely pace of the riverboat journey allows for moments of introspection and reflection, prompting the characters to confront their deepest fears and desires. Through an exploration of Mahfouz's depiction of the Nile River, this presentation delves into how it becomes a powerful metaphor for the existential journeys and societal disillusionment experienced by its characters. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Cairo's urban landscape, the novel follows a group of friends who seek solace from the monotony of their lives by gathering regularly on a houseboat drifting along the Nile. Through their conversations, introspections, and interactions, Mahfouz intricately examines the complexities of identity, alienation, and belongingness in a rapidly changing world. By delving into Mahfouz's masterful portrayal of the Nile as both a physical and metaphorical entity, the presentation will analyse the literal ebb and flow of the river translated into the profound impact on the characters' and the broader societal landscape of Egypt.

The Nile River, a symbol of continuity and change, has always served as a dynamic setting where people embark on transformative journeys, both physical and psychological. Naguib Mahfouz's "Chatter Over The Nile" weaves together personal narratives with broader political and historical contexts, particularly against the backdrop of Egypt's post-colonial struggles. Through a post-colonial lens, this paper examines how the novel reflects the political circumstances in Egypt during the time of its setting and publication. In "Chatter Over The Nile," the Nile River is a potent symbol of Egypt's national identity and collective consciousness, as a group of elite, middle class and low class people embark on a journey aboard a boat along the Nile, their experiences mirror Egypt's trajectory as a nation navigating the challenges of post-colonization, national identity, and political upheaval. Anis who used to work as a teacher has been invited to a small boat in the Nile where everyone smokes drugs to forget the reality and hypocrisy of Egyptian life. This paper claims that Mahfouz's "Chatter Over The Nile” represents Egypt's precarious position on the world stage and it's struggle for autonomy and agency in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. Mahfouz employs the ending scene of the collapse of the boat world as a metaphor for Egypt's vulnerability and resilience in the face of external threats and internal discord, ultimately offering a foreseeing epic of Egypt’s defeat in The 1967 Naksa which prepared the foundation for a neoliberal Middle East, and maintained the establishment of Israel’s militarism and colonial Zionism. Mahfouz reflects on Egypt's political circumstances, historical resonances, and the Nile's liminal spaces, inviting us to traverse its waters alongside the complexities of self-discovery and personal growth. The river becomes a metaphorical threshold inviting Anis and his companions to confront their fears, embrace their vulnerabilities. Mahfouz's depiction of the Nile as a symbol of constant change underscores the universal themes of national identity and transformation, reflecting on the socio-political atmosphere across the Arab cultural boundaries. "Chatter Over The Nile" transcends the boundaries of time and place, offering us a geopolitical reflection on the complexities of post-colonial identity and the ongoing quest for sovereignty and self-determination in Egypt and beyond.