Autobiography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East

by NA NA

Overview

Ranging from the early modern period to the present day, this edited collection uses biography as a window into the history of the Arab-Islamic Middle East. The contributors reinterpret the lives of the famous such as George Antonius and Doria Shafiq and rediscover the lives of individuals previously consigned to the margins of history, including the notorious individuals of 17th-century Syria and the 20th-century Palestinian activist Kulthum Auda. The book also draws on the biographical tradition of Arab historical writing, including biographical dictionaries, for an understanding of the region s social and cultural history. Interdisciplinary in scope and theoretically informed, this volume brings to light individual lives which are essential to an understanding of Middle Eastern history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312219666
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Edition description:	1st ed. 2002
Pages:	245
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Mary Ann Fay is Assistant Professor of History at the American University of Sharjah.

Table of Contents

Introduction—Mary Ann Fay * Part I: Early Modern Period * Biography and Arab History—Judith Tucker * Forgotten Appellations: Notorious Individuals in Seventeenth-Century Biographical Dictionaries—Ibraham Ali * Biography, Autobiography and Identity in Early Modern Damascus—Steve Tamari * The Transmission of Knowledge in Religious Instruction: An Examination of Biographical Notices from the Late Sixteenth Century Maghrib—Osama Abi-Mershed * On the Writing of Biography—Virginia Aksan * Part II: Colonial Period * Kulthum Auda, Palestinian Ethnographer: Gendering the Palestinian Landscape—Garay Menicucci * The Judge: Abd al-Wahid Khammash and the Transformation of Nablus in the Ninetenth-Century—Beshara Doumani * Jamal Sidqi al-Zahhawi, the Iraqi Ottoman-Era Intellectual and Poet—Dina Khoury * Biography as a Window to the Social and Cultural History of the Middle East—William Cleveland * Feminist Women of Egypt: Late Nineteenth to Twentieth-Century—Sana Abed-Kottob * Part III: Post-Colonial Period * Ethno/Biography: Writing Culture, Writing Lives—Cynthia Nelson * Ambiguous Voices: Sudanese Immigrant and Exile Narratives in Egypt—Anita Fabos * Generation and Self: Blending Histories of Egyptian Women Activists—Nadje Sadig Al-Ali * Self-Voice and Individual Trajectory: Ideology, Identity and Commitment in Khaled Mohieddin's Autobiography—Didier Monciaud * Famous Wombs: Gendered Biography and Constructions of an Islamic State in Egypt Now—Marilyn Booth * "To Create and In Creating to be Created": Reflections on the Mixing of Fiction andMemoir in Lina: A Portrait of a Damascene Girl and the House on Arnus Square—Samar Attar

Introduction—Mary Ann Fay * Part I: Early Modern Period * Biography and Arab History—Judith Tucker * Forgotten Appellations: Notorious Individuals in Seventeenth-Century Biographical Dictionaries—Ibraham Ali * Biography, Autobiography and Identity in Early Modern Damascus—Steve Tamari * The Transmission of Knowledge in Religious Instruction: An Examination of Biographical Notices from the Late Sixteenth Century Maghrib—Osama Abi-Mershed * On the Writing of Biography—Virginia Aksan * Part II: Colonial Period * Kulthum Auda, Palestinian Ethnographer: Gendering the Palestinian Landscape—Garay Menicucci * The Judge: Abd al-Wahid Khammash and the Transformation of Nablus in the Ninetenth-Century—Beshara Doumani * Jamal Sidqi al-Zahhawi, the Iraqi Ottoman-Era Intellectual and Poet—Dina Khoury * Biography as a Window to the Social and Cultural History of the Middle East—William Cleveland * Feminist Women of Egypt: Late Nineteenth to Twentieth-Century—Sana Abed-Kottob * Part III: Post-Colonial Period * Ethno/Biography: Writing Culture, Writing Lives—Cynthia Nelson * Ambiguous Voices: Sudanese Immigrant and Exile Narratives in Egypt—Anita Fabos * Generation and Self: Blending Histories of Egyptian Women Activists—Nadje Sadig Al-Ali * Self-Voice and Individual Trajectory: Ideology, Identity and Commitment in Khaled Mohieddin's Autobiography—Didier Monciaud * Famous Wombs: Gendered Biography and Constructions of an Islamic State in Egypt Now—Marilyn Booth * "To Create and In Creating to be Created": Reflections on the Mixing of Fiction and Memoir in Lina: A Portrait of a Damascene Girl and the House on Arnus Square—Samar Attar

Editorial Reviews

This primer on contemporary Africa by a longtime observer of the continent is more effective for its sociopolitical background to the region's various catastrophes than for its proposed solutions to them. Schwab (Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo), a professor of political science at SUNY-Purchase, comprehensively details the disintegration of the immediate postcolonial euphoria into political chaos, impoverishment and health disasters. Schwab, who first traveled to Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1960s, covers the topic simply and offers brief, invaluable descriptions of several countries' circumstances. The information is no less tragic for its familiarity. The malaria rate in Africa has increased by 60% during the last 30 years, according to the U.N., and in some countries the AIDS rate exceeds 20% among adults. Schwab's observation that, in Burundi, the state "has ceased to exist," applies to various other sub-Saharan countries. Several events in the late 1990s placed the Ivory Coast, for instance, "on the edge of an abyss": a new administration banned northern Muslim Ivorians from running for president; 350,000 Liberian refugees arrived; and a coup installed a military dictatorship. Regarding the future, Schwab treads on shakier ground. He argues cogently that Western policy must focus on Africa's needs, and not solely on Western geopolitical interests. But he fails to offer concrete ideas for implementing such an approach. Some might fault Schwab for simultaneously criticizing Washington for the nature of its interventions and for not intervening enough, but regarding Africa's recent struggles, readers will gain much from this astute analysis. (Oct. 1) Copyright2001 Cahners Business Information.

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