Being in the Borderlands: Identity Crisis in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s Latina, and Yussef El Gunidi’s Language Room
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study explores the identity crisis in three plays namely : A Raisin in the Sun (1959) by the African American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Latina (1980) by the Chicana playwright Milcha Sanchez-Scott, and Language Rooms (2010) by the Egyptian American playwright Yussef El Gunidi. It employs Gloria Anzaldua’s theory of the Borderlands and concept of the new mestiza consciousness. It investigates the impact of the experience of crossing borders(1) on the border-crossers’ identity. It shows how, after crossing the borders from their homelands to the United States of America, the characters become torn between the culture of their origin and the white dominant culture. They find themselves unable to fully identify with both cultures. The study also shows how this leads them to suffer from internal struggle and confusion. They keep negotiating their identity between the two cultures, and thus they become victims of their sense of displacement and in-betweenness.
Author: Esraa Raafat Ahmed Ismail
Institution: Sohag University
Language: Arabic
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4409848366