Spatial politics and genre in the 21st century Arabic novel in English
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This dissertation is a study of four 21st century Arabic novels translated to English, each of which narrates a regionally specific process of state-sanctioned property theft. I argue that the authors of these novels use and subvert conventions from genres of fiction such as the Gothic, detective fiction, and science fiction to counter the logics of state power represented in each novel. The first chapter studies Abdo Khal's Tarmi bi Sharar (Throwing Sparks 2009), which uses Gothic conventions such as monstrosity and narrative frames to challenge the logic of authoritarian impunity that drives property theft in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The second chapter analyzes Raja Alem's Tawq al-Hamam (The Dove's Necklace 2010), which counters the elitist individualism at the root of conventional detective fiction with a community of detective-like characters who investigate gentrification in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The third chapter examines Ahmed Naji's Istikhdam al-Haya (Using Life 2014) for how science fiction tropes of utopia and dystopia offer imaginative tools to rethink the logics of progress and sustainability used to justify green gentrification in Cairo, Egypt. And the fourth chapter reads Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad (2014) for how orality and polyphonic narration counter the logics of security and exceptionalism that drive the U.S. occupation of Baghdad and the Iraqi state's theft of property left behind by the displaced and the deceased.
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Ph. D.