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
Recommended Citation
APA Citation
Hashem, B.
(2022).The Flow of (Re)Memory in African American and Nubian Egyptian Literature: Morrison, Oddoul, and Mukhtar [Master's Thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1922
MLA Citation
Hashem, Bushra. The Flow of (Re)Memory in African American and Nubian Egyptian Literature: Morrison, Oddoul, and Mukhtar. 2022. American University in Cairo, Master's Thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1922
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Africana Studies Commons, African History Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, American Literature Commons, Arabic Language and Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Fiction Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Oral History Commons, Women's Studies Commons