From myth to cultural diplomacy: repositioning Arab identity through the transcultural journey of Hikayat Alfu Lailah wa Lailah in European literary discourse = Dari mitos ke diplomasi budaya: penyusunan semula identiti Arab melalui pengembaraan transkultural Hikayat Alf Laylah wa Laylah dalam wacana kesusasteraan Eropah

Sangidu, Sangidu and Farhah, Eva and Wicaksono, Imam and Mohsen, Hamoud Yahya Ahmed and Algayyar, Sherif Sa’ad (2026) From myth to cultural diplomacy: repositioning Arab identity through the transcultural journey of Hikayat Alfu Lailah wa Lailah in European literary discourse = Dari mitos ke diplomasi budaya: penyusunan semula identiti Arab melalui pengembaraan transkultural Hikayat Alf Laylah wa Laylah dalam wacana kesusasteraan Eropah. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 26 (3). pp. 522-538. ISSN 1675-8021 E-ISSN 2550-2131

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Official URL: https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/article/view/89431

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of Hikayat Alfu Lailah wa Lailah from an Arabic narrative tradition into a transcultural literary text that profoundly shaped European literary imagination. Using a qualitative narrativecultural approach, the research combines cultural reception theory and Carl Thompson’s symbolic myth framework to analyze the narratives of Shahrazad and The Merchant and the Ifrit. Cultural reception theory is employed to explore how European readers, translators, and literary institutions reconstructed Arabic narratives through exoticization, adaptation, and ideological negotiation, thereby reshaping their meanings within European literary discourse. Meanwhile, Thompson’s framework identifies symbolic journeys, heroic archetypes, supernatural encounters, and moral-symbolic structures embedded in the narratives. The findings reveal that the text functions not only as entertainment literature but also as a symbolic instrument of cultural diplomacy that repositions Arab identity within European literary discourse. Three major findings emerge: first, mythological symbols construct heroic and civilizational journeys that mediate intercultural understanding; second, Shahrazad’s storytelling strategy represents intellectual resistance and social transformation within patriarchal and colonial structures; and third, European reception reflects transcultural reinterpretation that simultaneously exoticized and legitimized Arabic literary heritage within world literature, strengthening literary decolonization discourse and the concept of cultural diplomacy narrative.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cultural diplomacy; imaginative journey; mythological journey; symbolic mythology; transculturalization
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PQ Romance literatures
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of English Language & Literature Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences
Depositing User:	DR HAMOUD YAHYA AHMED MOHSEN
Date Deposited:	02 Sep 2026 15:25
Last Update:	02 Sep 2026 15:25
Queue Number:	2026-08-Q4952
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/131067

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