The Immigrant Experience in Yussef El Guindi’s Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World

Document Type : Research in linguistic and literary studies

Author

English department, El-Madina Higher Institute for International Languages, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Arab Americans have experienced discrimination and stereotypes since their immigration to the United States, especially after the violent events of 9/11. Following 9/11, Arab American drama and theatre increased condemning racial stereotyping and prejudice based on color, origin, or faith. Yussef El Guindi is an Egyptian-American playwright who has made significant contributions to Arab American theatre.  He has been vocal in challenging stereotypes of Arab Americans in post-9/11 media and literary works. He is inspired by his own immigrant experience and relies on themes of immigration, adaptation, and stereotyping. El Guindi's plays depict the immigrant experience and the position of Arab Americans in American society, using humor, flashbacks, and displacement. This research intends to examine some of the issues that immigrants currently face in America and uses concepts of assimilation, hybridity, and ambivalence to discuss the immigrant experience as exemplified in El Guindi's Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World. The play represents a picture of the social life of some Arab American characters and depicts how some interact. It depicts the dilemma of the Arab-Americans who are forced to choose between their present and their future reflecting the effort they make to preserve both their Arab identities and their American ones.  The research proves how their attempts to define themselves and their citizenship are reflected through the ambivalence of their behavior and even their language.

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