Postcolonial Perspective of the Identity Dilemma, Immigration, Liminality, and Otherness in Leila Aboulela's The Kindness of Enemies

Abstract

This paper investigates the representation of the diaspora characters of the Egyptian-Sudanese-Scottish novelist Leila Aboulela in her novel The Kindness of Enemies (2015) who lives in Britain. She seeks to negotiate the issues of identity, hybridity, and culture through the novel's narrative. The paper discusses why Aboulela’s main protagonists have been anguished by taking off their cultural identity. Why does Natasha legally change her name to Natasha Wilson? Why does Osama prefer being named Oz or Ossie? Additionally, the paper aims to examine how the characters’ identities are reformed to produce themselves anew within their host cultures. Finally, it portrays the historical story of Imam Shamil as an example of contemporary fighters and opposition against extremists and rejecting acts that harm innocent people around the world. The article seeks to analyze how a number of the novel's protagonists, including Oz, Natasha, and Jamaleldin, first, have been taken from their Muslim identity and their Arabic culture. In addition, they have been completely impacted by the consequences of the "war on terror"; each character is in their own time and place. The article aims to analyze the evolution of the notions of immigrants, identity crisis, cultural hybridity, and resistance. These concepts were interrogated in her novel, which discusses building a bridge for peaceful coexistence between societies amid political and religious differences.