Longing to Belong: Sargon Boulus's Exilic Poetry on Collective Memory and Identity

LONGING TO BELONG: SARGON BOULUS’S EXILIC POETRY ON COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND IDENTITY A Thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts In Humanities by Mona Rasho Malik San Francisco, California Summer 2018 Copyright by Mona Rasho Malik 2018 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read Longing to Belong: Sargon Bouhts’s Exilic Poetry on Collective Memory’ and Identity by Mona Rasho Malik, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Humanities at San Francisco State University. Dr. Carel Bertram Ph.D. Professor LONGING TO BELONG: SARGON BOULUS'S EXILIC POETRY ON COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND IDENTITY Mona Rasho Malik San Francisco, California 2018 The nature of human exile has been a recurring theme in poetry for millennia, with its emphasis on the loss of “home.” While the meaning of home is perhaps this genre’s most complex and protean focus, this concept is rarely reflected in studies of poetry. This thesis explores the poetry and art of Sargon Boulus as perceptions of the evolving nature of “home” from the perspective of exile. In this context, the emphasis is on a sense of home in terms of a psychological state of contentment, acceptance and belonging. By focusing on this Assyrian poet in diaspora, I explore articulations of the human condition of ontological rootedness, the trauma of war and the facility for identifying with a culture and negotiating a sense of belonging. Closer analysis reveals the significance of his poetry in narrating the experience of living in a foreign place and as it evokes the memory of home, a sentiment shared by all displaced people. Furthermore, we are introduced to the poet’s own pursuit for a home to rest his weary soul. I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While volunteering with the Assyrian Aid Society of America, a humanitarian organization, for over two decades I was fortunate to have the opportunity of traveling to Assyria, our homeland in Iraq, as part of the research to promote awareness of our endangered Assyrian culture. Every visit instilled a desire to return to the land of my ancestors, to hear my language spoken on the streets, to laugh and cry with people who lost everything to multiple genocides and most of all, to feel a sense of belonging. I began to wonder about this longing to return to my place of birth: was it an instinctual sense of “home” I was experiencing or missing? Or was this longing also connected to a communal consciousness carried through literature? Even after living in America for over 40 years, did I feel more rooted in Assyria? I was inspired to explore these complex human conditions of identity, otherness and longing for “home”. Scholarship in Humanities allows me to investigate these intangible human situations through literature, poetry and art. At the same time, I consciously selected an Assyrian poet, Sargon Boulus, whose work deserves a world stage by virtue of his universal expression of the diasporic experience. My reference to the poet, Sargon, by his first name is personal on account of the historical meaning within my Assyrian heritage. Sargon is a name that harkens back to generations of Akkadian and Assyrian kings, a metaphorical reminder of my shared rich culture with I am grateful for all the words of encouragement I received along this journey and most of all, I am indebted to my supervising professors, Dr. Carel Bertram and Dr. Mary Scott, for their patience and unconditional support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures...................................................................................................................vii Introduction: Poets Define a Language for Exile and Otherness in Diaspora..........1 Chapter 1: Sargon Boulus: His Life and Inspiration.....................................................8 Chapter 2: Continuity and Translation...........................................................................28 Chapter 3: Ut Pictura Poesis.............................................................................................40 Chapter 4: Conclusion: Poetry and a Sense of Home....................................................48 Bibliography:...................................................................................................................... 53 LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page 1. The Illusion o f Man by Sargon Boulus................................................................ 41 2. Perpetual Embrace by Sargon Boulus................................................................ 41 3. Statue o f Ashurbanipal by Fred Parhad........................................................51 vii 1 Introduction: Poets Define a Language for Exile and Otherness in Diaspora Among early civilizations, banishment and exile were imposed by ruling powers as deliberate punishment for offenders. Such prolonged absence from one’s country of origin and the deprivation from lifelong comforts and security from one’s community were considered severe forms of torture. Presently, in an environment of spiritual disconnect and omnipresent global tension, exile has transformed into an exodus of massive scale by innocent people, yet the effects are just as devastating. Exile has had a profound impact on individuals uprooted from one culture to another, on the host communities they join, and the ones they abandoned. As we encounter an era of vast migration, issues of security, cultural identity and otherness have manifested as global concerns. These tribulations pertain specifically to people who have been forcibly displaced from their homelands to become refugees or have been resettled in a new host country. One region that has been critically affected by human displacement from continued conflicts is Iraq, which has experienced one of the darkest periods in its history: from 1985 to the present the Iraqi diaspora has multiplied to over 4.5 million, including approximately 1.5 million just in the last ten years, dispersed throughout the globe to face foreign environments and adjust to assimilation and acceptance by host communities. 2 How does one fill the void prompted by uprootedness? Displacement and uprootedness in diaspora communities, as Lindenstrauss suggests, “forces us to rethink the rubrics of state and of nation, to challenge accepted notions of citizenship, and to question existing conceptualizations of the importance of territoriality.”1 In practice, developed nations implement such studies to support their “quest for control over cross border movement.”2 States apply statistics, demographics and other studies that reduce the human experience to mere data with financial and political implications, but with a complete disregard for the intangible human encounter. I suggest, however, that complex human conditions of security, identity, and otherness resulting from loss of hom e cannot be explored without considering the art, literature and poetry of the affected community. In this thesis I will focus on poetry in the context of displacement from Iraq. Poetry is an essential part of the cultural heritage of the Middle East extending back to Mesopotamian and Phoenician traditions when the Fertile Crescent spanned from the Persian Gulf to Upper Egypt. In Iraq, the home of many prolific poets dating back to pre-Islamic times, poetry is a treasured literary art, but in modern times it has often been censored by the State as an instrument of political propaganda in times of conflict. From the 1970's until the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the oppressive Ba'athist 1 Lindenstrauss, Gallia. Transnational Communities andDiasporic Politics. 2010. 2 Castles, Stephen & De Haas, Hein & Miller, Mark. The Age o f Migration. 2014. 3 administration exerted their power to prosecute poets and other artists for subversive activities. Poetry was a threat to the ruling party when it was not in praise of the ruler. After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, a number of victims came forward with tales of incarceration, intimidation, censorship and eventual exile for most.3 For example, poet Salman Dawood was approached by three security men after Dawood’s poem was published. The poem was considered rebellious and critical of the government. The poet Amer Abed published a book of poetry and later realized that the most important poem was omitted in the final version of the book. Conversely, when poets and writers ceded to the government, chronicling tributes to Saddam Hussein, the war and the Ba’athist ideology, they were rewarded with grandiose titles such as “Poet of the War,” or “Poet of the Mother of all Battles.” Consequently, many poets (artists/writers in general) chose exile, which meant safety as well as freedom of expression. Diaspora became not just a choice, but their only salvation. Poets living in diaspora have now become symbols of resistance and voices of exile, infused with human values as opposed to state values. A community’s values are organic incarnations of tradition, myth, cultural and religious history and ethnic disposition. Human values can be a progressive influence toward a country’s decision process regarding immigration policy as well as inspire diaspora-host country’s J Harding, Luk. Everyday tales o f Saddam's cruelty. The Guardian, December 21, 2003 4 grassroots politics. Presently, the prose poets of Iraq are at the forefront for

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