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COPTS IN THE NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS DISCOURSES: A NARRATIVE OF RESISTANCE IN SHADY LEWIS'S NOVEL TURUQ AL-RAB.

Authors :
Abraham, Nevine
Source :
Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies; 2024, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p58-82, 25p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

The focus of scholarly studies and literary works on Egyptian Copts as a persecuted or a faith community has diverted attention from seeing them as active agents who challenge hegemonic powers within the complex overlapping of national and religious discourses. As a diasporic Copt, Shady Lewis voices in his 2018 novel Turuq al-Rab (Ways of the Lord) a counternarrative of resistance, scrutinizing the prevailing conformist culture fraught with control and repression orchestrated primarily by the state and secondarily by the church. This paper examines the ways in which Lewis offers a new paradigm for understanding Coptic identity in light of Egypt's socio-history that has produced this culture. It argues that the novel's interlacing of the twofold church-state and Copts-church asymmetries of power informs Coptic contentions of citizenship, belonging, and relation to the church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
21694435
Volume :
11
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
177168637
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.24847/v11i12024.393