Abstract

One of the most important concerns of immigrants after starting to live in a new place and space is identity. Identity is a phenomenon that is created in the course of social interactions and by creating a boundary between insider and outsider. Cultural differences between two lands cause cultural conflicts. In migration, the family's cultural and identity relationship has various forms. Contemporary fictional literature deals with the issue of immigrants and their identity. Identity constitutes the central axis in the the novel running after wolves by Ali Badr. Based on homi bhabha’s identity theory using the descriptive-analytical approach, this study seeks to reveal the importance of the hazia, its epics, and its challenges of alienation and retrieval, and to highlight the important issues surrounding the character of the hero in this novel, the perception of identify immigrants and the possibility of identifying them, and highlighthing the issue of the self and the other. Ali badr expresses an identity crisis through the main character of the novel, George barker, in the face of the phenomenon of alienation, immigration, environmental and cultural factors, and identity tensions. The main character in this novel, who reaches the brink of collapse and collapse as a result of emigration, seeks to suggest a new meaning for her identity. His identity links the past with the present with the help of memory, even though at the beginning of stay in America he was seeking to forget his past. In the end, he searches for its originality and lost identity in America.           
   
Key words: identity, migration, Ali Badr, the novel “running after wolves ", the ego and the other.
 
Extended summary
 

Introduction

Identity is a set of intellectual and mental beliefs and ideas that express and build upon the difference between the self and the other, with the goal of preserving and strengthening its continuity, or are implemented, or attempt to destroy or weaken other identities. Identity is a general concept that shapes people's mentality. People ask others who they are, and more importantly, they ask themselves who they are. Identity has become the focus of question and the subject of debate in intellectual and political circles. There is no better evidence of this than the huge number of books and novels that have studied this subject, considering it a vague and multifaceted concept; in which the dynamics of the self and the other conflict. Ali Badr is one of the writers who has been able to well portray the challenges of an Iraqi immigrant in America, according to Homi Baba's identity theory, in the novel running after the Wolves. From Baba's perspective, the location of culture is the environmental space, and therefore cultural identities are environmental and hybrid identities. It can be said that identity, and more broadly, cultural forms, have no focal points; rather, they are an open-ended process that is constantly being redefined. Furthermore, for Baba, migration is a form of cultural translation. He believes that the migrant translates cultures and transcends borders. The result of this theory is nothing more than a hybridization of identity and culture.

Materials and methods

 This article, using a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to portray the challenges of Arab immigrants in Western countries. Its goal in expressing the challenges facing the immigrant is to preserve the culture, habits, and traditions of the national-homeland on the one hand, and to have a constructive and non-ambivalent relationship with the new culture and environment. The importance of this study lies in enabling the reader to the topic: diaspora, hybridity and hybrid culture.
 

Research findings

In this novel, Ali Badr has skillfully portrayed the conditions of immigrants in American society. Ali Bader clearly focuses on creating a central hero who is active and involved in the story. What distinguishes this story and the research surrounding it is, on the one hand, the treatment of the identity challenges of immigrants, and, on the other hand, the alienation of the identity of the first generation of immigrants, which, in light of the process of migration and confrontation, and the necessity of organizing the value of the cultures of the East and the West through the production of connected and colonial themes. In this novel, the novelist depicts how an immigrant integrates into his new life. The main character in the novel (George Parker) accepts integration into the host country and cultural mixing. The way the novel's hero is hybridized is completely different from that of other immigrants. Where we see George Parker moving away from his Iraqi identity, the Arabic language, his race, and his culture, and he tried to assimilate and integrate into the new environment that differed from his national identity.
 

Discussion &conclusion

"Running after the Wolves" is an autobiographical novel inspired by the author's own experience. The hybrid identity of immigrants in a foreign country is embodied in issues of identity, gender, language, place, etc. Bader considers language to be one of the most important tools for immigrants to cross the environmental space into the third space, and it is this language that gives the immigrant the opportunity to prove himself among the native population. George Parker has become the true hero, as he is the center of events, and we see the creation of a new identity for him in the novel, as he acquires this new identity over time. Ali Bader's novel is, at its most basic level, a search for identity. Contradictions and dualities can be seen in various parts of this work. Living in America, George Parker suffers from the collapse and disintegration of his identity. He is unable to evaluate his past values, and on the other hand, he lacks values ​​with which to freely plan for the future. The concept of I/Other overshadows almost every element in the text of "Dances with Wolves." In this other narrative, not only are the heroes of George Parker's story considered Iraqi and African, but they are also considered marginalized by the war and its consequences. Imitation and complexity are clearly evident in this novel. The main character is based in America, and what encourages the immigrant to imitate the West is his lack of connection to local customs and culture. The result is the forgetting of one's identity and the confusion of the immigrant. The result of this imitation is the creation of a dark and ambiguous version of the West, which is perceived as a threat to the immigrant and his culture.