Djinn as the “Embodiment of Knowledge

Bibliographic Data

ID6436710
AuthorsNancy Sharma (0000-0003-0352-438X, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume21
Issue2
Pages197-213
Publication date2025-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Middle East Women s Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1552-5864 • E-ISSN: 1558-9579
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/15525864-11826212
OpenAlexW4415375591
LanguageEN
References cited18

Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul as a “site of memory” deals with the Armenian Genocide and the transition of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic of Turkey. The historical transition not only changed the region’s cartography but also changed the mnemonic culture of the newly formed nation. This article explores how Shafak’s historiographic metafiction represents an alternative perspective on the Armenian Genocide and questions the discourse of denial surrounding the historical event. It rummages through the “blank pages” of Turkish historiography and, interestingly, establishes how Shafak fills these gaps through the voices of her female characters, who have been burdened with the nightmares of unreconciled history. This article explores how Shafak’s text represents an alternative perspective on the Armenian Genocide, narrated through the eyes of a djinn, a supernatural creature that lies at the center of Middle Eastern folklore. It further analyzes the notion of deliberate forgetting and how it facilitated the repression of Ottoman Armenians’ (his)tories and memories of the genocide as represented in the text

Chinese history and philosophy · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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