Politics of Memory in Waris Dirie's Desert Flower

Abstract

This research paper investigates politics of memory in Waris Dirie's autobiography Desert Flower (1998). As an autobiography, by a Somali Muslim nomadic writer and a super model, actress, as well as a human right activist, it recounts private ‘self’ of the author, experiences and thoughts, struggles and obstacles, physical and mental trauma and tortures being an ignorant Muslim illiterate girl, precisely the daughter of a nomad family. The researcher, here ponders into why Waris Dirie, the author, feels important to explore her ‘self’ through the script-the autobiographical act, and for that draws theoretical insights of writing autobiography on ‘politics of memory’ from Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson’s Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narrative, Anne Whitehead’s Memory: The New Critical Idiom, Avishai Margalit's ideas on 'shared memory' from the text, The Ethics of Memory. This research finally concludes that the politics behind writing this autobiography is to empower and inspire women and young girls destined to face traditional but a brutal patriarchal subordinating practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the African Muslim communalities and countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and the likes with the depiction of her successful life story as she is now a super model and a special ambassador of UNO for human rights. Moreover, identity construction as a prime purpose of life writing, she also creates her identity as a rebellious, courageous female and later as a social worker, human right activist, a super model, at the same time, FGM victimized nomad girl, a house maid and worker at McDonald in England.