The Problem of Identity and the Language-Translation Duality in the Context of Modern Arabic

Abstract

Identity, in its individual and collective dimensions, cannot be cloned across generations and historic eras. Cultural Interaction and borrowing are two vital factors for the formation of the collective identity of peoples as the product of a cumulative process that negates descriptions such as eternal, constant, and invariant. This study puts forward a comparative analysis of three approaches to cultural and national identity, and the interaction between Arabic and Western culture, prominent on the Arab scene since the beginning of the Nahda until the beginning of the 21st century. It also reviews an aspect of the challenges and problems that may confront the last of these approaches, which is the perspective of the national democratic struggle regarding what the Arab Spring may give birth to politically in the short term.