Temporal Ruptures and Decolonial Resistance in Sahar Khalifeh’s Wild Thorns

This article examines Sahar Khalifeh’s novel Wild Thorns through the perspective of temporal disruptions as a means of decolonial resistance. Khalifeh’s text, situated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank post-1967 war, critiques colonial structures that constrain Palestinian existence and autonomy. This analysis employs Walter Mignolo’s concept of border thinking, María Lugones’ colonial/modern gender framework, and Elizabeth Freeman’s notion of chrononormativity to demonstrate how Wild Thorns utilizes narrative techniques such as fractured chronology, shifting perspectives, and deliberate omissions to generate temporal disjunctions and counteract the colonization of Palestinian time. The novel’s refusal to follow linear narrative progression becomes a prerequisite for decolonial resistance, allowing characters to reclaim temporal sovereignty despite the occupation’s attempts to regulate Palestinian temporality. This article examines how everyday activities and minute details in the novel disrupt the colonizer’s fantasy of a static, pre-colonial time, revealing how Khalifeh’s text creates alternative temporal frameworks that allow for Palestinian agency and resistance. This study contributes to decolonial literary theory by demonstrating how temporal ruptures in fiction can challenge colonial power structures and open up possibilities for alternative futures.