Identity and Resistance in Mahmoud Darwish's Poem "Bitaqah Hawiyyah": A Roland Barthes Semiotic Analysis

Nurdiana, Putri and Chotimah, Dien Nur ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1493-1418 (2025) Identity and Resistance in Mahmoud Darwish's Poem "Bitaqah Hawiyyah": A Roland Barthes Semiotic Analysis. Journal of Authentic Research, 4 (2). pp. 2475-2500. ISSN 2828-3724

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Abstract

This study aims to explore the construction of identity and resistance in Mahmoud Darwish’s poem Bitaqah Hawiyyah through Roland Barthes’ semiotic framework. The poem articulates the collective experience of the Palestinian people who face dispossession and political oppression while continuously affirming their existence through language and symbolism. Employing a qualitative descriptive method, this research analyzes the poem at three semiotic levels: denotation, connotation, and myth, in order to uncover how linguistic signs function ideologically within the text. The findings reveal that Darwish strategically transforms administrative and everyday language into a medium of resistance. Expressions such as “Record! I am an Arab,” references to family, land, roots, and stones operate not merely as personal statements but as symbolic affirmations of collective identity. At the mythological level, these signs construct a discourse of steadfastness (sumūd), presenting Palestinian identity as an enduring cultural and existential force rather than a temporary social status. This study contributes to the field of literary and cultural studies by demonstrating that Bitaqah Hawiyyah functions as a poetic manifesto in which language becomes a site of struggle, memory, and resistance, reinforcing the role of poetry as a powerful instrument in articulating national identity and opposing colonial domination.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	Mahmoud Darwish, Bitaqah Hawiyyah, Identity, Resistance, Roland Barthes Semiotics
Subjects:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2005 Literary Studies > 200527 Arabic Literature (al-Adab al-‘Arabī) 20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2005 Literary Studies > 200527 Arabic Literature (al-Adab al-‘Arabī) > 20052705 Naqd al-Adab (Arabic Literary Criticism) - al-Syi'r (Poetry) 20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2005 Literary Studies > 200527 Arabic Literature (al-Adab al-‘Arabī) > 20052799 Arabic Literature (al-Adab al-‘Arabī) not elsewhere classified
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities > Department of Arabic Language and Letters
Depositing User:	Dien Nur Chotimah
Date Deposited:	13 May 2026 09:20

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