The Politics of Assertion in the Memoir In Search of Fatima by Gada Karmi

Abstract

Life writing includes biography, autobiography, memoir, personal diaries, letters, testimonies, blogs, vlogs, emails etc. It is the recordings of one’s musings and reflections about oneself. Industrialization, urbanization and international trade and commerce helped much in developing life writing and memoir. This paper considers the memoir In Search of Fatima, by Gada Karmi to investigate the political undercurrents behind it. Politics means all social activities practiced by humanity singly or collectively. It’s a discourse and dialogue that binds all human activities together. A memoir is a nonfictional narration which moves on the personal feelings of an author. It was considered a sub category of autobiography in the past, but now it is considered as separate genre. The memoir In Search of Fatima has three parts , affixed by a prologue and an epilogue. Part one has titled as Palestine, part two as England and part three as In Search of Fatima. The third part extensively deals with the peak of the trauma , experienced by Karmi or her persona Fatima. And the most important political stand taken by the author is keeping the memory alive because memoricide is schematically practiced by Israeli forces, by bulldozing buildings, uprooting trees, destroying landmarks etc. It has to be resisted, according to the author. So, the resistance movement should be deeply planted by unearthing the history of the nation. This resistance can be seen in the writings of Karmi Gada. That is the politics of the memoir. The memoir In Search of Fatima becomes a political document. That political document gives the people a new energy , new power, a new dream, a new enthusiasm, and a new philosophy.