The Interpellated Subject and the Lure of Hybridity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Sahbia Mouaddeb

(University of Sfax)

Abstract

This article relies on Louis Althusser’s theory of “interpellation” to critically address the way Homi Bhabha’s notion of hybrid identity is predominantly approached as a viable model for appropriation by Arab-American writers. The study specifically examines the viability of hybridity as a mode of self-expression and self-representation for Muslim Arab-Americans. In her novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), the Syrian-American writer Mohja Khaf exposes the danger of responding to the call for “hybridity.” In fact, to venture into the “interstitial” space means to expose oneself to the threats of “interpellation” and containment. Althusser’s explanation of the workings of ideology through his concepts of “interpellation” and “Ideological State Apparatuses” allows for the critical examination of the process of hybridization. Indeed, the analysis shows that what appears as a celebratory endorsement of an agential “hybridity” could be read as the result of a process of “interpellation” through which Khadra, the protagonist, is encouraged to endorse a specific mode of identification. Alternating between subjectivity and subjection, Khadra experiences “hybridity” as a source of anxiety and loss. In this narrative, the author invalidates “hybridity” as it grants an illusory sense of subjectivity while it promotes subjection and containment.