Memoir challenges stereotypes of Arab women (book review)

[ismnotwasm]

Anbara Salam Khalidi’s Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist was published in Arabic in 1978, and tell a life story which spans Ottoman, British and Israeli colonialism. Finally available in English — translated by Anbara’s son Tarif — this slender autobiography challenges many stereotypes about the place of women in Arab society, as well as being a reminder of the artificial and cruel ways in which the modern Levant is fragmented.

Anbara Salam was born in Beirut in 1897, one of 12 children of an affluent Muslim merchant. Her family was deeply religious and valued education; her mother came from a family of scholars and, when not managing the family home, read Arabic history, religious books and literature.

Two of Anbara’s brothers served as ministers in various Lebanese governments, and one as prime minister. Of her sisters, the youngest, Rasha, devoted much of her life to the Palestinian struggle.

One fascinating aspect of this book is that, although Anbara Salam lived until 1986, her life spanned some of the most intensive social and technological change seen by humanity. Her memoirs include, for example, detailed descriptions of Lebanese Muslim wedding traditions which, in the 1970s, she set out in detail so that young Lebanese could learn about practices which had almost died out.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/memoir-challenges-stereotypes-arab-women/12501