الفهرس 
Reclaiming Places and Maintaining IdentityOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This thesis attempts to examine and analyse the role of place in defining a person’s identity and how the idea of home and displacement affects humans in general. Studies that deal with place and identity as separate entities reflect the intersection of multiple disciplines and they mostly highlight the importance of place in the construction of individuals’ existence, specifically the marginalized or the occupied, and their identity. Another aim of the thesis is filling the gap concerning the relation between place and identity and its development following the historical background of this concept as no clear theory of place is setup till this day. It also seeks to fill the gap in the area of Arab women writers’, especially Palestinian women writers, and their relationship to place. The thesis focuses on two Palestinian writers: Suad Amiry and Naomi Shihab Nye and argues that their relationship to place, in selected works from their writings, presents a two dimensional analysis of Arab women writers’ working their identities and reaching a partial reconciliation by relating to certain places. The thesis consists of three chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography. Chapter one is an introductory chapter which is divided into two parts; the first part gives a detailed background and an introduction to the meaning of place as a general term through the demonstration of the difference between space and place and the relation between place and identity. The second part of the chapter deals with the significance of the land in the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. It also reviews the historical background and political events that led to the occupation of Palestine. Chapter two deals with Suad Amiry’s two texts: Sharon and My Mother-in-Law and Golda Slept Here. It analyses these books to demonstrate the relationship between place and identity. The third chapter deals with selected poems by Naomi Shihab which highlight the relation between place, identity, and belonging. The conclusion will sum up the main findings of the research and assess the issues that were raised.