Representations of the Margin and Repressed Identities in Ward Badr Salem's novel The Virgin of Sinjar: A Study in Cultural Criticism

Abstract

This study examines the representation of marginality and suppressed identities in The Virgin of Sinjar (ʿAdhraʾ Sinjar) by the Iraqi novelist Ward Badr Salem through the lens of cultural criticism. The research investigates how the novel articulates voices of the marginalized—particularly Yazidi and female identities—within the sociopolitical and religious frameworks that have historically silenced them. Drawing on the premise that narrative discourse functions as a cultural text, the study explores how fiction reconstructs relations of power, identity, and otherness, thereby transforming the literary text into a site of cultural resistance.

Adopting the cultural criticism approach, the research employs key concepts such as representation, identity, hegemony, and hybridity as formulated by theorists including Edward Said, Stuart Hall, Homi Bhabha, and Abdullah al-Ghadhami. Through close textual analysis, the study reveals the hidden cultural codes embedded in narrative structure, character formation, and symbolic language. The novel’s engagement with trauma and memory enables a redefinition of Yazidi suffering from a localized tragedy into a universal human condition. By deconstructing binaries such as center/margin, male/female, sacred/profane, and self/other, The Virgin of Sinjar articulates a discourse of resistance grounded in empathy and reclamation of identity.

The study concludes that Salem’s novel transcends its historical setting to construct a cultural text that merges aesthetics with social critique. It demonstrates how narrative art becomes a means of confronting hegemonic ideologies and restoring agency to silenced voices. Ultimately, the novel stands as an act of cultural remembrance and symbolic resistance that reimagines identity from the perspective of the marginalized subject.