Literary resistance in the Near East: A comparative analysis of national identity in Arab and Turkish traditions

Resistance literature (Arabic: al-adab al-muqawim) serves as a profound manifestation of a nation’s struggle against occupation, cultural assimilation, and socio-political hegemony. This article provides a comparative analysis of resistance narratives within the Arab and Turkish literary traditions, examining how both cultures utilized the written word to preserve national identity and cultural sovereignty. While Arabic resistance literature, particularly in the Palestinian context, emphasizes themes of land loss and the Nakba, Turkish literary movements—from the Tanzimat era to the National Literature period—reflect similar patterns of defiance against imperial decline and external pressures. Drawing on postcolonial theory and the frameworks of Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, this study explores the ideological, cultural, and psychological dimensions of resistance. By bridging the Arab Nahda and the Turkish Milli Edebiyat movements, the research highlights the shared aesthetic strategies used to reclaim cultural narratives and advocate for universal values of freedom, justice, and human dignity.