Postcolonial Nationalism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Algerian and Iraqi Novels from 1962 to the Present
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Postcolonial Nationalism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Algerian and Iraqi Novels from 1962 to the Present Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Hazam Kamel Abd Al Janabi, BA, MA School of Arts Department of English University of Leicester 2018 Postcolonial Nationalism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Algerian and Iraqi Novels from 1962 to the Present Hazam Kamel Abd Al Janabi Abstract This thesis investigates identity and postcolonial nationalism as expressed in selected Iraqi and Algerian historical novels published after 1960. The study examines eight novels: Assia Djebar’s Children of the New World (1962), Muhsin al-Ramli’s Scattered Crumbs (2000), Yasmina Khadra’s The Sirens of Baghdad (2008), Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper (2011), Abdul-Aziz Gramoule’s Za’eem al-Aqaliyah al-Sahiqah [Leader of the Overwhelming Minority] (2005), Khadair al-Zaidi’s Valyoom Asharah [Valium 10] (2015), Rashid Boudjedra’s The Barbary Figs (2012) and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013).Through a critical analysis of the selected data, the study investigates how historical fiction can create and legitimatize nationalist discourse on the one hand and counter hegemonic discourses on the other hand. The thesis also explores how, and to what extent, the critical awareness and blindness of postcolonial nationalism contributes to social and cultural formations in a pan-Arabic context, and how nationalist leaders exploit and oppress their citizens. The thesis also explores - through its investigation of literary texts - the perpetuation of Western cultural imperialism in Iraq and Algeria through the imposition of modern cultural apparatus such as nationalism, the religious/secular distinction and military action such as the War on Terror. It concludes that postcolonial nationalism extends colonial imperialism both ideologically and discursively. Postcolonial nationalist regimes in Iraq and Algeria have divided and exploited citizens by perpetuating Western concepts of nationhood and identity. By examining literary responses to postcolonial nationalist states, my critique explores its divisive and exploitative practices and explores authors’ imagined alternative visions for more peaceful multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious societies. I Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the support and generosity I received while carrying out this venture without it this study simply would not have been completed. First, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Corinne Fowler for her invaluable support, advice and guidance throughout the entire process. It has been an honour to be her Ph.D. student. Her insights and continual encouragement made this thesis more of a stimulating challenge than the demanding burden I often felt it would be. I also would like to thank second supervisor Dr. Lucy Evans. I would not have been able to carry out this research without the financial support from the Iraqi Ministry of higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR). I highly appreciate their financial support and generosity. In the same breath, I would also thank the Iraqi Cultural Attaché in London, and its staff for their support and cooperation. The completion of my doctoral programme is one milestone of a personal journey; a journey that has not been travelled alone. Therefore, I owe my loving thanks to my wife Ramiah, who overwhelmed me with her loving care, affection, and continue to support and encourage me in ways too numerous to count. Thanks to my mother who always spared time to pray for me and my brothers, especially engineering Murtadha Al-Janabi. I also would like to thank my children who have always been an inexhaustible source of support. I also thank my friends Dr Haider Katea, Dr Ali Al-Sarraji, Dr Thamir Az- Zubaidy, Dr Ahmed al Alaq, Dr Waleed Jaber, Dr Adnan Mkhelif, Dr Yasir Ali, Dr Sinan Baho, Mr Ameen Jawad and Mr Mohsin El Dreihi who supported me with their positive feedback. Lastly, I would like to thank everybody at the School of Arts for they always wished me good luck, especially Steph Collins being part of this school was a great experience. II Publications and Conference Presentations Borders of Conquest in Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) was accepted for publication in Postcolonial Knowledges (ed. Marivic Lesho, Kerstin Knopf, Eeva Sippola), forthcoming with HeiUP Heidelberg University Press, Germany. ‘Borders of Conquest in Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013)’ was presented at the Third Bremen Conference on Language and Literature in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts, which was entitled ‘Postcolonial Knowledges’, which held in March 15-18, 2016. ‘War on Terror’ and ‘Nationalism’ in Yasmina Khadra’s The Sirens of Baghdad (2008) and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) was presented at the EASA Biennial Conference ‘Nationalism Old and New: Europe, Australia and Their Others’, which held in January 17-19, 2018. Transformations and Alternatives: Yasmina Khadra’s The Sirens of Baghdad (2008), was submitted to the Journal of Postcolonial Text for publication. Home Colonies in Khadair al-Zaidi’s Valyoom Asharah [Valium 10] (2015), was submitted to the Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies for publication. III Contents Postcolonial Nationalism and Contemporary Literary Theory: Algerian and Iraqi Novels from 1962 to the Present ..................................................................................... I Hazam Kamel Abd Al Janabi ............................................................................................ I Abstract .............................................................................................................................. I Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... II Publications and Conference Presentations ................................................................ III Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Identity and Postcolonial Nationalism .......................................................................... 2 Postcolonial Nationalism .............................................................................................. 8 The Development of Postcolonial Nationalism in Algeria ......................................... 13 The Development of Postcolonial Nationalism in Iraq .............................................. 15 Existing Research ....................................................................................................... 18 Thesis outline .............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter One: A World of Fragments in Assia Djebar’s Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War (1962) and Muhsin al-Ramli’s Scattered Crumbs: A Novel (2000) ................................................................................................................... 27 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 27 Children of the New World ......................................................................................... 28 Scattered Crumbs ........................................................................................................ 39 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 50 Chapter Two: Home Colonies in Abdul-Aziz Gramoule’s Za’eem al-Aqaliyah al- Sahiqah (2005) and Khadair al-Zaidi’s Valyoom Asharah (2015) ............................ 55 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 55 Za’eem al-Aqaliyah al-Sahiqah .................................................................................. 57 Fascist Ideology .......................................................................................................... 59 Rhetorical Constructs .................................................................................................. 61 Separatist Framework ................................................................................................. 65 The Ruling Mafia ........................................................................................................ 68 Spectre of Crisis .......................................................................................................... 73 Low-level Resistance .................................................................................................. 76 Valyoom Asharah ........................................................................................................ 80 The Defeatist Syndrome ............................................................................................. 82 Delinked Consciousness ............................................................................................. 85 Strangers at Home ....................................................................................................... 88 Pragmatist Rule ........................................................................................................... 91 The Lie of the Land .................................................................................................... 95 Conclusion .................................................................................................................