Hasnul Djohar

Department: English Literature
Discipline: English
Research Centre/Unit: Humanities Postgraduate School

Project Summary

Her thesis focuses on culture, ethnicity, and identity in Contemporary American-Muslim women's writing. By responding to feminist and postcolonial studies, she investigates the works of Contemporary American-Muslim women, particularly Mohja Kahf, Diana Abu-Jaber, Laila Halaby, and Randa Jarrar. She examines various genres: novel, memoir, short-story, and poetry in contemporary American-Muslim women's writing in order to search for different stories and strategies deployed by these Muslim women. This can be considered, in literary text, some of the challenges faced by American-Muslim subjects after 9/11.  

By reflecting on how these Muslim women writers deploy various forms and strategies (bildungsroman, memory, and food culture) in their works, these literary works not only provide a more sophisticated understanding of American-Muslim experience but also serve as a timely reminder of other minorities who also struggle as “Others” within dominant cultures.

Supervisory Team

Dr. Sinead Moynihan, Department of English

Dr. Florian Stadtler, Department of English

Wider Research Interests

Contemporary American-Muslim women's writing: novel, memoir, short story, and poetry, particularly the works of Mohja Kahf, Diana Abu-Jaber, Shaila Abdullah, Laila Halaby, and Randa Jarrar. 

Authored Publications/Reports

Hasnul Djohar (30th October 2013) “Asian-American Cultures in Children Literature", Character Building

Hasnul Djohar (3rd October 2013) “Arab Diaspora in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent.” , The Journal of Arab Culture

Hasnul Djohar (4th December 2010) “Gender Darkness in Umairoh” , Al-Turas Journal, XV/4

Hasnul Djohar (7th June 2016) , Asean Journal of Education , I/1

Hasnul Djohar (11th April 2015) "The Hegemonic Aristocracy" , Journalism and Mass Communication, V/4

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