Abstract
This paper will focus on Ilhan Omar’s memoir, This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman (2021) as an autobiographical manifesto that serves Omar’s emancipatory politics. Since her election to congress as a Black Muslim woman and the first African refugee, Omar has faced various forms of Islamophobia, racism, misogyny, and anti-immigrant strains. In her memoir, Omar purposefully locates herself as the speaking subject of her life, in a purposeful, bold, contentious manifesto that reclaims her subjectivity, identity, and body and positions herself as an agent of feminist resistance and cross-racial solidarity.
Presenters
Zeynep AydogduAssistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Autobiography, Memoir, Refugee narratives, Race, Ethnicity, Belonging, U.S. Multiculturalism
