Creative Writing as a Technology of Resistance

Abstract

["",""] This research investigates creative writing by SWANA refugee authors as a technology to resist dominant forms of censorship and repression. The research is two-fold, it relies on a theoretical approach where narrative is employed as theory, and a practical analysis based on the methodology of Liminagraphy. This approach aims to answer the question: In what ways can creative writing cultivate resistance and collective liberation as a technology of censored SWANA refugees? The theoretical framework discusses Resistance Literature in Mahmoud Darwish’s works as a form of resisting colonial rule, identity erasure and death. The transformation of his poetic experience helps portray the different definitions of resistance through emotional and philosophical forms. The research then connects the cultivated theories to the experiences of various other SWANA authors by documenting their works and interviewing them. By making use of Liminagraphy, the research highlights the importance of story sharing through the authors’ works, where the dominant “I” is delinked, and trials are made to construct unities under “we”. The chosen documented pieces (short stories, poems) are analyzed along with the interviews with authors, and they are analyzed in collectivity. Resistance manifests differently among every author, there are contradictions, complexities and confirmations of resistance, all expressed uniquely to every author. In the first practical analysis, we see the complexity of resistance as power has ever-lasting effects on the author and the story’s hero. It seems possible to rebel against power through language, however, it soon returns to the hero’s body and stays there forever. We also see the complexity of resistance when creative language fails to engage with the collective “we”, making creativity weak within individualistic approaches against systems of oppression. In the second analysis, the author expresses resistance in a multifaceted way, first in resistance to death by the hero of the story, where he defeats and resists death continuously with the language. Secondly, the author chooses to expose the tumors invading SWANA society through her creative writing to resist patriarchy. In the third analysis, resistance shows its contradictions, where the author is pessimistic and believes writing is secondary in the project for liberation, yet his stories document and reveal realities in which resistance takes form against imprisonment and torture. In the fourth analysis, resistance is very clear, especially against the colonial rule of Palestine and rejecting racism within The Netherlands. The authors collectively take on different systems of censorship and oppression and deal with them in their work. When analyzed in unity, creative writing appears to succeed in formulating resistance and aspirations for collective liberation for SWANA authors.