Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This study is an examination of how war is performed in the work of performance poet Suheir Hammad and actor and playwright Heather Raffo, both Arab American artists of palestinian and Iraqi origins respectively. This research is specifically interested in looking at wars that take place in Iraq and palestine. However, due to the difference between war in Iraq and war in palestine, which is a living example of settler colonialism, 'states of war' is used throughout this research to refer to whatever shape war takes in palestine and Iraq. Both Suheir Hammad and Heather Raffo are Arab American performance artists, the former a performance poet and the latter an actress and playwright. Their works have been about the experience of war from diaspora as they both live and create art in the US. As US citizens from Arab origins, they are connected to more than one place, and therefore they claim a hybrid identity such as an Arab American one. This research examines performances of war by both Hammad and Raffo to explore how the moment of performance can offer a space for the subject that functions as a 'home'. This home that only comes into being on stage is one that is not constructed out of nationalism, belonging or identifications. Rather it is a home that is an expression of self where liminal subjects can feel and experience everything without having to identify as Arab or American

Issued also as CD