Translation and hybrid identities: the case of La Filla Estrangera by Najat El Hachmi
Abstract
Over the last decades, migrations have massively expanded. Societies are becoming increasingly diverse and cultural interchanges are becoming very common. The experience of migration poses many different challenges to those who live it. It places them in an in-between state, where they do not completely belong to the culture of origin or to the target community. This is inevitably reflected in the way they speak, which is often a mixture of two or more languages. Some migrant writers have depicted their border experiences in their works, such as Catalan author with Moroccan origins Najat El Hachmi. This article aims to explore the self-translations of an immigrant young woman in the novel La filla estrangera (EI Hachmi, 2015), who struggles to conciliate her hybrid identity.