Stabilizing One's Own Cultural Identity in the Host Country through the Process of Othering in Nezami Ganjavi's Khosrow and Shirin

In this article، the story of Khosrow and Shirin is evaluated using assumptions of postcolonial studies and cultural semiotics. Shirin''s presence in place of a female immigrant in Ctesiphon with its dual demand for allegiance with the host country''s culture on the one hand and Shirin''s emphasis on maintaining and codifying her home-country''s culture on the other hand، stucks her in a challenging situation. In this paper، the mechanisms of center culture in the host country، for marginalizing Shirin، and the process of “othering” as her resistance strategy to maintain the cultural identity of “herself” in the host country is analyzed and the role of gender in the success of this process is shown. The results show that the host country''s culture tries to marginalize Shirin as a dangerous «other» who seeks out to disrupt the established dominant culture order. Therefore her situation in the host country، sets the stage for the process of othering by her، as an act of resistance، considered as an anti-hegemonic act in order to stabilize her own cultural identity. Shirin''s “othering” are divided in to two categories of “distanct others: and close others”. Interestingly Shirin''s “gender others” or “men” in the host country''s land، are under the category of “close others” and “gender in-groups” or women are under the category of “distant others”. Thus she takes two different approaches towards each. By such reading Khosrow and Shirin can be a reflection of the marginalized voices which manage to survive in the dominant center culture.