Abstract:

This essay focuses on how Mohja Kahf, in The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), and Randa Jarrar, in A Map of Home (2008), are interested in multiple identity positions (national, ethnic, and religious) and hybridized cultural forms, specifically the bildungsroman and popular music. Responding to various influential theories of the bildungsroman, this essay examines how Kahf and Jarrar deploy what is, historically, a European literary form to foster global ummah (community), which links the Muslim community around the world. The privileged metaphor I will use here, which is derived from Kahf's novel, is that of "The Crossroads of America" and the "crisscrossing" of geographical, religious, ethnic, and national borders. These novels of American Muslim Bildung challenge myths of American selfhood and individualism by exploring the idea of the ummah and how the protagonists develop within it. In doing so, both authors respect earlier writers by following their writing techniques, which tend to juxtapose Islamic practices with social life; for instance, Kahf and Jarrar represent their protagonists practising Islamic tenets (prayer) while engaging popular culture: singing and writing poems or letters.

摘要：

本文着眼于Mohja Kahf，《橘子围巾的女孩》（2006）和Randa Jarrar，在《家庭地图》中的作法。（2008年），对多种身份地位（民族，种族和宗教）和混合文化形式，特别是bildungsroman和流行音乐感兴趣。针对bildungsroman的各种有影响力的理论，本文探讨了Kahf和Jarrar如何运用历史上一种欧洲文学形式来培育全球ummah（社区），该社区将世界各地的穆斯林社区联系在一起。我将在这里使用的特权隐喻是源自“卡夫”的小说，是“美国的十字路口”和地理，宗教，族裔和国界的“纵横交错”的隐喻。这些美国穆斯林Bildung小说通过探索ummah的概念以及其中的主人公如何发展，挑战了美国自我和个人主义的神话。在这样做，两位作者都遵循他们的写作技巧来尊重较早的作家，这些写作技巧往往将伊斯兰实践与社会生活并列。例如，卡夫（Kahf）和贾拉尔（Jarrar）代表他们的主人公在传播流行文化的同时练习伊斯兰教义（祈祷）：唱歌和写诗或写信。