social and human sciences review مجلة العلوم الاجتماعية والانسانية
Volume 27, Numéro 1, Pages 277-286
2026-06-30
Resistance In Public Space: Rituals And Cultural Identities In Mohja Kahf's“my Grandmother Washes Her Feet In The Sink Of The Bathroom At Sears”(2003)
Authors : Nouioua Wafa .
Abstract
Intergenerational relationships represent deeply rooted religious and cultural dynamics. In the context of multiculturalism, Mohja Kahf’s “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” (2003) illustrates the religious practices of an elderly Muslim woman in an American public space under the gaze of her granddaughter. By depicting the seemingly ordinary sacred practice of wudu (Islamic ablution) performed in a public bathroom sink at a Sears department store, the poem explores how religious and cultural identities are transmitted across generations through everyday rituals. Using a postcolonial lens, this paper analyzes linguistic hybridity and code-switching in Kahf’s poem, highlighting the negotiation of cross-cultural identity. The study adopts a qualitative approach supported by a descriptive-analytical method and close reading. The findings indicate that linguistic hybridism in “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” functions as a cultural bridge between Islamic and Western worlds. Moreover, the poem shows how the grandmother shifts a Muslim ritual from the private sphere to the public, resisting the American gaze by destabilizing Western stereotypes and encouraging openness to cultural and religious difference.
Keywords
Mohja Kahf; “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears ; Cross-Cultural Identities ; Linguistic Hybridity ; the American gaze.
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