Representations of Cultural Conflict in Ahmed al-Faqih’s The Ash Blower: A Reading of the Patterns of Power and Margin

Abstract

This research seeks to analyze the short story The Ash Blower by the Libyan writer Ahmed al-Faqih through the lens of Cultural Criticism. It aims to highlight the representations of conflict between power and the margin as a cultural problematic that reflects the tensions within Libyan society. The study draws upon the theoretical framework of Cultural Criticism as it developed in the West—with figures such as Michel Foucault and Edward Said—and its transition into the Arabic context through the efforts of Abdullah al-Ghadami and others, viewing it as an epistemic practice that uncovers submerged patterns and deconstructs mechanisms of cultural hegemony.

The study stems from the hypothesis that Ahmed al-Faqih’s narrative text reproduces cultural conflict through the duality of power and margin, revealing mechanisms of symbolic domination while simultaneously granting the margin the possibility of resistance. The research employs an analytical-cultural approach, utilizing descriptive and analytical tools to deconstruct textual elements and clarify their relationship to power and resistance.

The findings indicate that The Ash Blower highlights the conflict between the center and the margin through complex narrative and symbolic imagery; elements such as daylight, ash, and night are transformed into cultural significations expressing the struggle of collective consciousness against the forces of marginalization. Furthermore, the text illustrates the crisis of the intellectual who strives to revive "daylight" in the face of a society drifting unconsciously toward the regeneration of darkness. Thus, the story serves as a revealing metaphor for the cultural dialectic in Libya, where literary narrative converges with social and political discourse.

The significance of this research lies in expanding the application of Cultural Criticism to short stories and clarifying the mechanism of utilizing literature as a discourse of resistance against hegemony, thereby fostering awareness of the intricate relationship between literary texts and cultural patterns.