Socio-political aspects in selected literary works of naomi shihab nye

Naomi Shihab Nye is a prominent Palestinian American poet. Naomi is an appealing figure paving the way for ethnic poets and young poets alike. The researcher will focus on her poetry that deals with her Palestinian society, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas and her experience in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America. More attention will be focused on the origin of Naomi and how the ethnic family has acted as a springboard for her future career as an author. Naomi offers insights into the Middle East that seems particularly relevant in our troubled political times. The literary works that the researcher will shed light upon are 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, Fuel, and Habibi. Naomi’s experience as an Arab American is reflected through her poems. When reading her poems one can notice that she is a loving, caring person with great insight into the complexities that await all who venture into this area. Naomi’s background as a child of immigrants from the Middle East puts her in an usual position to offer bridges between two cultures that have been subject to much mutual misunderstanding. It can be said that her poetry touches many themes, including the question of identity, cultural issues, motherhood, friendship and political issues connected with her people who live in the occupied territories of Palestine and those who live in America. Being bicultural, Naomi Shihab maintains some sensibility, otherness or attachment. Throughout her work, she challenges rigid boundaries, identification, calling attention instead to the multiple and often in the overlapping categories that constitute identity, culture, gender, ethnic origin, religion and geography.