Document Type : Research paper
Authors
1 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Arabic Language and Literature, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University,Tabriz, Iran
3 Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University
Abstract
Achieving measurable knowledge of identity has always been one of the fundamental concerns of cognitive science. Today, with the mental and behavioral complexities of contemporary man, identity research has become a comprehensive issue in anthropology; So that it has brought different approaches under “identity and its types”. In the meantime, the psychologist named “James Marcia”, continuing Erikson''s view on identity, by proposing two variables "crisis experience" and "commitment", categorizes four operational states of identity which are: diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and successful. In his theory, which is known as "bases of identity", each of these stages is distinguished based on having the determining factors of “crisis” and “commitment”. An approach that, with the behavioral analysis of actions and attitudes, has provided a suitable capacity for novel researchers to achieve a psychological understanding of identity. The current research tries to use the components of this psychological approach to investigate identification and how to achieve it in the novel of Azhar Jirjees called “Sleep in the Cherry Orchard” which has subjects that are compatible with the current point of view. One of the achievements of this research, which is provided in a descriptive-analytical manner, is the two-way and inseparable relationship between place and person in the face of stagnation, backwardness or regression in Marcia''s identity status; A category that the author confirms with a multi-layered narrative of the status of his protagonist in cities such as Baghdad and Oslo.
Keywords
Main Subjects
Extended Abstract
Goals: Identity is becoming such an important issue in cognitive sciences because it is viewed as a challenge and concern in the modern social world. This concern led the Canadian psychologist James Marcia to follow Eric Erickson’s efforts on identity to provide a perspective that turned identity into a traceable, applied, and measurable category. He used his keywords, i.e., exploration, the experience of crisis, and commitment, to categorize four identity statuses: "identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement” (Farhoudi & Piri, 2020, 113). Here, “crisis is defined as a period of identity development in which people explore the identities of others.” Most researchers use the term “discovery” than “crisis.” Commitment also refers to personal investment to achieve the intended identity” (Santrak, 2020:232). According to Marcia’s applied plan that led to a scale of “Ego identity,” the tested domains included occupation, religion, and politics (Marcia, 1966:551555). The present study uses the components of this psychological approach to investigate identification and its manner of achievement in the Al-Noam Fi Al-Haghl Al-Karz novel, whose subjects correspond to the current approach. This will help achieve identity in this new Arabic novel more concretely.
Materials and procedure: The present study used James Marcia’s identity methods to investigate the Al-Noam Fi Al-Haghl Al-Karz novel by the Iraqi Azhar Jerjis. Following a brief definition of identity and an investigation of its lexis, the article takes a psychological view of its background. Later, it provides a complete definition of Marcia’s theory of “Identity Bases” and elaborates on four stages of identity to investigate the intended novel. This article also uses the library method to gather data from written sources and categorize them based on content notes.
Later, it uses the descriptive-analytical method to identify factors that affect the content of the novel and then analyzes the data qualitatively. The use of explanatory diagrams is a method that helps reveal the critical points in an ideal way.
Findings: In this novel, Jerjis uses bitter irony and symbols to narrate identity at an individual level with the character of “Saeed” and his macro-representation of “Baghdad.” In his narration, it is revealed that identity is a challenging and internal journey which, as long as it is not initiated in the person, the adopted identities will become labels that bring about nothing but stagnation and regression. For Marcia, achieving a higher identity relies on individual decisions related to external variables in a two-way interaction. This research has demonstrated well that homeland as a “place” paves the way for the achievement of identity and allows for the transcendence of higher statuses to contribute to Marcia’s attitudes; this is a category well unveiled by the author about the different status of Saeed in Oslo and Baghdad and Oman. Saeed’s fled from Baghdad and his asylum in Norway, where he gained a common language, true love, and a good profession, reveals the main motives of the migrants who, like him, seek to expose their integrated selves.
The manner of authorship in the identity-based analysis of this novel is significant in that it involves a symbolic approach to using personages, dialogues, and a selection of locations. Another of Jerjis’s techniques that have strengthened attention to Mercia’s psychological attitudes is the novel's narrative form that corresponds to the four statuses of Marcia, which involves the readerships in an intertwined narration and manifests the identity-based content of the story within a narrative structure.
Conclusion: Marcia’s “Identity Bases” is an applied and measurable perspective that transcends the mere theoretical realms and uses such components as “exploration, crisis, and commitment” to identify the peoples’ identity status at a behavioral level of one of the four stages of identity. The present research revealed how this method of identity theory could be used to investigate the category of identity in contemporary novels such as "Al-Noum fi Haqhl Al-Karz."
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