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“A Gesture Toward Home” Sara Abou Rashed's Theories of Return

english.ucdavis.edu

A Syrian-American poet's "theories of return" put diaspora identity theory center stage — asking whether home is a place you go back to or a story you keep rewriting.

Diaspora TheoryPostcolonial TheoryPolitics of BelongingIdentity Formation

Theory Briefing

  • Sara Abou Rashed's UC Davis talk frames 'return' not as a journey but as a theory — challenging fixed notions of homeland and belonging.
  • As a Syrian-American writer, Rashed embodies the diaspora condition where identity is perpetually negotiated between origin and adopted culture.
  • The event title 'A Gesture Toward Home' signals that return may be symbolic and incomplete — core to postcolonial and displacement theory.