Navigating Diasporic Existence: Identity, Belonging and Displacement in Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Allepo

Abstract

This study examines how Lefteri constructs diasporic consciousness and trauma as central narrative dynamics that interrogate the complexities of identity, belonging, and forced displacement in a globalized world. The selected novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo brings to light the conflicts between the desire to cling to the country of origin and the need to survive in exile through the character of Nuri Ibrahim who is a Syrian refugee negotiating the physical destruction of war and the psychological burden of loss and memories. Drawing on diaspora studies and postcolonial theory, the study highlights how Lefteri, the novelist, represents displacement as a liminal state where one experiences fractured identity. The novel’s movement between memories of Aleppo and the harsh realities of refugee transit mirrors the sense of disorientation of the diasporic subject, whose identity is disturbed by violence, border controls, and institutional inattentiveness. Finally, this study suggests that The Beekeeper of Aleppo transforms the refugee experience into a broader meditation on global precarity, demonstrating how diasporic identities emerge not only as sites of loss and alienation but also as fragile forms of resilience and ethical resistance in an increasingly dehumanized world.