Tag: Women Writers

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I am Fatima: Negotiating Identities in Contemporary American-Muslim Women’s Writing Series: “Cracking Eggs” in Diana Abu-Jaber’s ‘Life Without a Recipe’ (2016)

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This is the third and last post in the series ‘I am Fatima: Negotiating Identities in Contemporary American-Muslim Women’s Writing’ guest-written by Hasnul Djohar. This short series explores American-Muslim women’s writing in the 21st Century, focusing on the negotiation of identities within the works of a specific author in each… Continue reading

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I am Fatima: Negotiating Identities in Contemporary American-Muslim Women’s Writing Series: Folktales in Randa Jarrar’s ‘A Map of Home’ (2008)

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Randa Jarrar’s ‘A Map of Home’ (2008) narrates the coming-of-age story of a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Palestinian descent […] [and] can be compared to Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior’ (2000) which uses Chinese folktales; and Jarrar also alludes to Palestinian folktales. The protagonist, Nidali, describes this folktale through the way her grandma, Sitto, tells her the story, which is about “two sisters, one poor and one rich” […] “The poor one goes to the rich one’s house and the rich one’s stuffing cabbage leaves” (101). The poor one is creative and willing to help others until she becomes rich because her own fart is happy after she lets it go from her stomach and it presents her with gold, while her sister at the end is dying because her own fart gives her scorpions after forcing it to go out from her comfortable stomach. Continue reading

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I am Fatima: Negotiating Identities in Contemporary American-Muslim Women’s Writing Series: Women’s Emancipation in Mohja Kahf’s ‘Emails from Scheherazad’ (2003)

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Mohja Kahf the poet, novelist and scholar, was born in 1960 in Damascus, Syria and moved with her family to America’s Midwest in 1971. She is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the writer of two poetry collections […] Kahf’s collection of poetry, ‘Emails from Scheherazad’ (EFS) explores the struggle of Muslim women to reclaim their own identity and reverse American myths and stereotypes of the Muslim world, especially Muslim women. In doing so, Kahf alludes to Muslim Women’s forebears, such as Asiya, Mary, Balqis, Khadija, Fatima, and Scheherazad. Scheherazad, the Queen and the story teller in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, is a hero for Muslim women as she successfully revered the King’s physical violence into magnificent stories, which made the King wiser in understanding humanity. Continue reading

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Introducing the Series: I am Fatima: Negotiating Identities in Contemporary American-Muslim Women’s Writing

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By exploring the heroic stories of American-Muslim women, who also represent other marginal groups, we gain a better understanding of how these groups have not only suffered from white mythologies from the periods of European colonialisms and American imperialism, but also have struggled to seek social justice and equality. And with the better understanding of these women’s struggles, this short series aims to contribute to discussions concerning American-Muslim literature, which explores both melancholic and convivial stories of marginal groups in order to reveal what it means to be American citizens of Muslim descent. Continue reading

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University of Glasgow: Transatlantic Literary Women, Series 2

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Run by women, and in celebration of women, the series focuses on female writers on either side of the Atlantic; specifically, their lives and work in all genres from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Talks from Dr Eilidh A B Hall and Professor Faye Hammill were among the opening highlights of this year’s series. Continue reading

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University of Glasgow: Edith Wharton Workshop

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Among the first events of the new season of the Transatlantic Literary Women Series was an Edith Wharton workshop which was fittingly transatlantic and transnational in scope, welcoming participants from Scotland, England, Germany, China, Ireland and Canada. Continue reading

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Review: Transatlantic Women in the Trenches, Transatlantic Literary Women Series

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The day’s discussions were thought-provoking and engaging, in a time when coverage of senseless conflicts and rampant inequality still dominate the media. In the centenary of America’s entry into a war which opened wide the once unassailable values of Western civilisation, the event was a welcome engagement with women’s contributions to this period, and how these experiences were represented in their works and their lives. From unique perspectives on gender to wavering sentiments of nationhood, the event set the stage for a number of exciting new projects. Continue reading