Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to define the term rememory, which Toni Morrison coins in her novel Beloved, and explore its interplay with water imagery in the novel and in two Nubian short stories, namely Haggag Oddoul’s “The River People” and Yahya Mukhtar’s “The Nile Bride.” The three narratives have core common features: they centralize water bodies as key sites of events, they depend heavily on the retelling of history and mythology, and they are told predominantly from the perspective of women. How do the writers weave rememory, history, and mythology to produce these narratives? Are they attempting to rewrite history through storytelling? How does communal trauma affect the collective memory of indigenous Africans as well as those in diaspora? Why are women the main storytellers in the three narratives? And finally, why is there an overwhelming presence of water in these African myths and stories? What can be uncovered by delving through the symbolism of water and water bodies? The thesis utilizes theories of memory studies, gender, and psychology to decipher the work of rememory in the three narratives and give a fresh account of indigenous and diasporic African cultural expression.

School

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department

English & Comparative Literature Department

Degree Name

MA in English & Comparative Literature

Graduation Date

Spring 6-21-2022

Submission Date

5-24-2022

First Advisor

Ferial Ghazoul

Committee Member 1

Magda Hasabelnaby

Committee Member 2

Sonia Farid

Extent

137 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

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