Code-switching and diasporic identity in Susan Abulhawa’s <i>Against the Loveless World</i>

This article examines the interrelatedness between diaspora and code-switched expressions in Susan Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World, a novel that chronicles the journey of Nahr, a young Palestinian refugee, as she becomes radicalized while traversing life in the diaspora. This study examines how Abulhawa utilizes code-switching to highlight the identity conflicts of Palestinian refugees, emphasizing cultural preservation and resistance in exile. This investigation is framed within the context of exile writing, diasporic identity, and code-switching theory. This study employs qualitative analysis of textual instances of code-switching in relation to political, cultural, and social contexts in the novel, aiming to illustrate how these linguistic choices serve as a form of resistance and identity formation. Abulhawa employs many code-switched expressions related to honorific titles and cultural expressions such as food, clothing, religious traditions, and historical events like the Naksa to reflect on Nahr’s geographical shifts from Kuwait and Jordan to Palestine. Abulhawa’s intentional use of code-switched expressions illustrates Nahr’s sense of displacement and her experience of being confined in solitary in an Israeli occupation prison. Nahr’s reflections on her life, marked by her use of code-switched terms, reveal her engagement with her cultural identity, while imprisoned in a country she struggles to recognize. These findings contribute to the broader understanding of how language functions as a tool for cultural resilience and identity preservation in the Palestinian diaspora.