Diasporic Syrian women writers: stories of resilience and survival

Abstract

In 2020, Ghada Alatrash and Najat Abed Alsamad noted that, ‘Historically Syrians have written and spoken about exile in their literature, long before the Syrian war began in March of 2011 (p. 4). This paper brings together two Syrian women writers who straddle this epochal moment in Syrian history: Mohja Kahf and Ibtisam Tracy. It seeks to bridge the gap between these writers and to chart new trends in diasporic writing by Syrian women. It argues that bringing Kahf and Tracy into the same frame captures the complex diasporic positioning of contemporary Syrian women writers. This in turn offers new perspectives on transnational and postcolonial criticism, in particular by focusing on gendered resilience in the diaspora through the act of storytelling in solidarity. By bringing into discussion current socio-political issues presented by Syrian women, this paper seeks to challenge the dominant representations of Muslim/Arab women in general and Syrian women in particular.