|
License Agreement on scientific materials use.
|
|
|
Dysfunctional fatherhood in cultural liminality narratives: a study of contemporary Swedish literature
|
Marta Aleksandrovna Morkina
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
|
|
Submitted:
January 29, 2026
|
|
Abstract.
The research aims to identify the structural features and cultural meanings of the father figure in contemporary Swedish prose on migration and identity. Drawing on Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s novel “One Eye Red” (Sw. “Ett öga rött”, 2003) and Marjaneh Bakhtiari’s novel “Can You Say Shibboleth?” (Sw. “Kan du säga schibbolet?”, 2008), the article examines the crisis of paternal authority in conditions of cultural liminality and its influence on the protagonists’ identity formation. Within the phenomenon of dysfunctional fatherhood, two narrative models are identified: the father experiencing a collapse of social status and the father undergoing a crisis of symbolic recognition despite external success. The scientific novelty lies in the introduction of the synthetic concept “dysfunctional fatherhood in cultural liminality narratives”, which allows viewing the “weak” father as a systemic symptom of a rupture in the intergenerational transmission of cultural codes. The research findings establish that the crisis of the father figure, determined by migration experience, consequently leads to a deformation of children’s socialization. Furthermore, the type of dysfunction shapes different scenarios for identity search: the loss of public authority provokes an active but destructive rebellion against society in adolescents, whereas a crisis of private authority amidst external success generates a state of passive “suspension” and existential uncertainty.
|
Key words and phrases:
культурное пограничье
дисфункциональное отцовство
гибридная идентичность
постколониальная теория
современная шведская литература
cultural liminality
dysfunctional fatherhood
hybrid identity
postcolonial theory
contemporary Swedish literature
|
|
Open
the whole article in PDF format. Free PDF-files viewer can be downloaded here.
|
|
References:
- Зойя Л. Отец: исторический, психологический и культурный анализ. М.: Класс, 2014.
- Зотова Ю., Летучева М. Всё дело в папе. Работа с фигурой отца в психологическом консультировании. М.: Класс, 2019.
- Моркина М. А. Образ отца в творчестве Юнаса Хассена Кемири // Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики. 2023a. Т. 16. Вып. 9. https://doi.org/10.30853/phil20230462
- Моркина М. А. Эволюция образа отца в творчестве Юнаса Хассена Кемири // LI Международная научная филологическая конференция имени Людмилы Алексеевны Вербицкой (г. Санкт-Петербург, 14-21 марта 2023 года): сборник тезисов. СПб.: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, 2023b.
- Фрейд З. Тотем и табу. М.: Азбука, 2012.
- Фромм Э. Искусство любить. М.: АСТ, 2023.
- Юнг К. Г. Алхимия снов. Четыре архетипа. СПб.: Тимошка, 1997.
- Bhabha H. The Location of Culture. L. – N. Y.: Routledge, 1994.
- Chatterjee P. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
- Gandhi L. Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. N. Y.: Columbia University Press, 1998.
- McClintock A. Family Feuds: Gender, Nationalism and the Family // Nationalisms and National Identities. 1993. № 44.
- Nayar P. K. Postcolonialism: A Guide for the Perplexed. L.: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2010.
- O’Reilly Ch. Post-Colonial Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Žižek S. Multiculturalism, or, the Cultural Logic of Multinational Capitalism. 1997. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i225/articles/slavoj-zizek-multiculturalism-or-the-cultural-logic-of-multinational-capitalism
|
|
