Identity Negotiations in Alienated Spaces: Gaston Bachelard's Perspective on Alaa Al-Aswany's Chicago Novel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30595/jssh.v9i2.26909Keywords:
space and time, diaspora identity, chicago, alaa al-aswanyAbstract
The representation of space and time in Alaa Al-Aswany's novel Chicago, through the phenomenological perspective of Gaston Bachelard, explores how space becomes an arena for identity and power negotiation for Egyptian diaspora characters living in Chicago. Using a descriptive-analytical qualitative approach and close reading techniques, this study reveals that space in the novel functions not only as a physical setting but as a subjective entity loaded with emotional meaning, imagination, and memory that influences the construction of the characters' identities. The city of Chicago is presented as a foreign space full of contradictions, offering freedom while creating alienation, providing opportunities while presenting social and cultural pressures that force the characters to constantly negotiate their identities between the traditional values of Egypt and the American liberal social system. Spaces such as campuses, apartments, and city streets not only reflect social inequality and the domination of power, but also serve as symbolic terrain for the existential crisis of the characters who face the dilemma between dreams and reality. By relating the experience of space and time through the lens of Bachelard, this study shows that space in the Chicago novel is not neutral, but rather an ideological field that actively shapes the consciousness, identity, and social position of individuals in the dynamics of global migration.
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