Contextualizing Arab Women’s Narratives in Postcolonial Literary Canons: Reading Aboulela’s Minaret and Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun

Abstract

Representation of Arab/Muslim women identities in postcolonial Anglophone fiction is a thriving field of study. With the aim of contributing to this area of research, this dissertation examines the literary strategies of two prominent Arab British women writers, Ahdaf Soueif and Leila Aboulela, in negotiating postcolonial identity, cultural translation, and resistance to Orientalist representations. Grounded in postcolonial theory and translation studies, the current research conducts a comparative analysis of Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun (1992) alongside Aboulela’s Minaret (2005). The study attempts to examine how Soueif’s hybrid linguistic techniques and politically engaged texts reflect woman’s postcolonial Egyptian identity, while Aboulela’s religious-based narratives assert Muslim women’s agency within Western secular context Methodologically, the study combines close translational, linguistic, and comparative interdisciplinary approach to explore how the writers’ narratives challenge both Western Orientalism and local cultural expectations. By moving beyond canonical East/West binaries and simplistic modes of hybridity, the writers’ stance of cultural translation contribute to more nuanced postcolonial subjectivities within the context of Arab British literature.