Transcultural Hybridity and Dialogism in Khaled Mattawa’s Poetry

Abstract

The double or multi-identity of immigrants, exiles, or poets in diaspora manifests itself in the development of poetry that is characterized by the depiction of a multi-layered perspectives that expresses different worldviews. Shifting across spaces allows these poets to traverse between languages and multiple perspectives, creating a hybrid multi-voiced discourse which becomes a major characteristic of transcultural poetry. Khaled Mattawa, a first-generation Libyan-American writer, integrates personal, local, and regional experiences with global and human dimensions. Written in English, Mattawa’s poetry becomes a conduit to investigate cultural hybridity of the worlds he crosses. Mattawa interweaves these overlapping cultural, social, and geographical spaces to create new hybrid images and dialogic forms of poetry. The aim of this paper is to explore the interplay of context with form in Mattawa’s poetry and the hybrid and dialogic techniques employed by Mattawa to express his resistance to the dominant culture as well as to promote a sense of liberation from local ties.