Abstract
Prison, as a central component of the repressive authorities’ politics of exclusion, aims to destroy the prisoner’s identity and sense of self. This article attempts to examine the credibility of the claim that prison poetry may act as a spiritual therapy for these traumatic situations. At once, it examines the capacity of comparative literature as a critical practice to create a space to stage such an argument. Utilising a methodology derived from Sperl’s invaluable work along similar lines alongside some dialogical studies, the article arrives at a reliable approach that can be used to examine the therapeutic function of poetry after traumatic events. It then engages in a comparative study examining the reflections of the maternal theme in selected examples of Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Group poetry. It highlights the work of two Islamist poets that are rarely discussed in Western academia, paving the way for further Western studies of Islamist poetry through a humanitarian lens.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 19-39 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Contemporary Islam |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2022 |
Keywords
- Arabic Prison Poetry
- Comparative studies
- Incarceration
- Islamic group
- Muslim Brotherhood
- Trauma