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The Role of National Status in Refugee Narratives: a Case Study on Palestinian and Sudanese Productions

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The Role of National Status in Refugee Narratives: a Case Study on Palestinian and Sudanese Productions DUKE UNIVERSITY Durham, North Carolina The role of national status in refugee narratives: A case study on Palestinian and Sudanese productions Thao Nguyen April 19, 2016 Thesis advisor: Prof. miriam cooKe, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Defense committee: Prof. miriam cooKe, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Prof. Eileen Chow, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Prof. Erdag GoKnar, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Distinction Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Nguyen 1 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 4 Statelessness within refugee narratives .................................................................................................. 7 BacKground ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Sudanese and Palestinian narratives ................................................................................................ 9 Literature review .................................................................................................................................. 12 “Hostipitality” ................................................................................................................................. 12 Refugee cultural productions ......................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER ONE: DIASPORIC STORYLINES ........................................................................................... 19 Sudan: The archetypal refugee narrative ............................................................................................... 20 Historical overview ......................................................................................................................... 20 Sudanese diasporic narratives ........................................................................................................ 23 Palestine: The stateless narrative .......................................................................................................... 28 Historical overview ......................................................................................................................... 28 Pre-1967 Palestinian diasporic narratives: Al-NaKba ...................................................................... 31 Post-1967 Palestinian diasporic narratives: The land ..................................................................... 32 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 36 CHAPTER TWO: DIASPORIC NARRATIVES ......................................................................................... 40 Narrative expectations .......................................................................................................................... 41 Narrative forms ............................................................................................................................... 43 Victim narratives ............................................................................................................................. 45 Continuity of struggle ........................................................................................................................... 48 Interaction of refugee productions across time ............................................................................. 48 Incorporation of narratives from previous movements ................................................................. 52 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 55 CHAPTER THREE: DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES .................................................................................. 59 Palestine: A national collective ............................................................................................................. 60 Palestine of the mind ...................................................................................................................... 61 Landscape and borders of the post-Oslo imagined Palestine ......................................................... 65 Collective memory: 21st century Palestinian narratives ................................................................. 68 Sudan: A tribal/familial collective ......................................................................................................... 71 Tribal collective ............................................................................................................................... 72 Familial collective ........................................................................................................................... 76 Landscape and borders of the Sudanese collective ........................................................................ 79 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 80 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 84 Projections ............................................................................................................................................ 87 Sudan: Return narratives ................................................................................................................ 87 Palestine: Postmemory worKs and the fluidity of belonging .......................................................... 88 Closing thoughts ................................................................................................................................... 89 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................................... 90 Nguyen 2 Abstract The 1951 Refugee Convention recognizes two groups of refugees: one outside the country of his/her nationality and another group without nationality outside of the place of their habitual residence. However, because stateless displaced groups do not fall into the global nation-state paradigm, they are often overlooKed within studies on refugees. As such, this thesis takes up the question of refugee memory as connected to place and the identities constructed through shared narratives, particularly those circulated through refugee-authored cultural productions such as literature and film. The tension between the status of the refugee within international law and the self-perception of separation from home are explored through two refugee archives: Palestinian (1960s to present) and Sudanese (2000s to present). In this thesis, I analyze the role of national status in shaping refugee narratives and collective identities, taking into account how passing time alters a group’s understanding of its collective history and shared present. In particular, I explore how national status impacts each group’s displacement experience and the process whereby they became refugees—examining how these factors play a role in shaping each group’s refugee narratives. These narratives are further explored through an analysis of the role of class, education and historical landscape in shaping refugee memory, identity and cultural production. Stateless, diasporic Palestinians, suffering displacement by Israeli occupation, employ land narratives to both validate their connection with the land and preserve its memory among those in exile. Their productions also worK to create a strong sense of national community, uniting Palestinians around a collective national cause across space and time. This thesis explores how national belonging depicted in literature is often so strong that it even transcends familial and personal obligations. In contrast, the Sudanese refugee identity is not so much claimed as designated by international agencies. Thus, Sudanese narratives are highly structured and construct an “innocent” refugee identity— “depoliticizing” the refugee subject—thus proving themselves as hapless victims “worthy” of assistance. This thesis seeKs to show how national status intersects with memory, Kinship, conflicting notions of belonging, state forces, and violence, producing very different narrative forms, which in turn shape the contours of refugee identity. Nguyen 3 Acknowledgements There are a number of people for whom I am eternally grateful for their support and encouragement throughout this project: To Professor miriam cooKe, I initially became captivated with refugee culture through your course. Your passion for the subject is contagious, and it has been a privilege to worK with someone as brilliant as yourself. To be honest, I was not quite sure if I would make it out of this thesis journey alive. I obviously have, and your support and encouragement have played no small role in the matter. ThanKs for challenging me to thinK outside the box and
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