The Dialectic of Borders and Multiculturalism in Naomi Nye＇s Habibi研究.pdfVIP

Sino—USEnglishTeaching，January2015，Vo1．12，No．1，44—62 doi：l0．17265／1539．8072／2015．01．007 … N 6 TheDialecticofBordersandMulticulturalism inNaomiNye’sHabibi TawfiqYousef MiddleEastUniversity，Amman，Jordan Thispaperinvestigateshow theArab—AmericanwriterNaomiNyeaddressesthedialecticbetweenbordersand multiculturalism inheraward—winningyoungadultnovelHabibi(1997)．Critiquingtheessentialistview that presumesfixedboundariesforaculture，Nyepromotesthealternativeview thatassumesindividuals’powerof definingandredefiningtheirculturalidentitiesinamulticulturalsociety．TheauthorarguesthatNye’spositionis thatborders／boundariesandgeographicaldemarcationsareflimsy，arbitraryandcreatedivisions，animositiesand hatredbetweenpeopleandnationswhereasmulticulturalism engendersfeelingsofreconciliation，friendship，and understanding．Thoughbordersandboundariescanbedivisive，culturalvarietyandhybriditycanbeinclusive．To counteracttheargumentofborders／boundaries，Nyepositstheargumentofmulticulturalism ．Inthispaper，the authorintendstoexaminetheassumptionsofthephysicalandtheculturalbordersrhetoricincompraisonwiththe multiculturalapproachnarrative．Itisthedialecticofthesetwoopposingforcesthatshapestheeventsandthefinal outcomeoftheactionandeventsofthjsnove1． Keywords：Palestinian，Jewish，American，borders，multiculturalism，identity，Nye Itis~mportantto notethatmulticulturalism doesnotsharepostmoderniststance．Itspassionsare political；lts assumptions．．．empirical；itsconceptionofidentitiesviscera1．Forit，thereisnodoubtingthathistory issomethingthat happenedandthatthosehappeningshavelefttheirmarkwithinourcollecti