As I listened to my mother,1 I recalled several experiences growing up within a bicultural Arab American familial and communal context. Al Amerikan (Americans) were often referred to in derogatory sexualized terms. It was the trash culture—degenerate, morally bankrupt, and not worth investing in. Al Arab (Arabs), on the other hand, were referred to positively and associated with Arab family values and hospitality. Similarly, throughout the period of my ethnographic research among middle-class Arab American family and community networks in San Francisco, California,2 between January 1999 and August 2001, the theme of female sexuality circumscribed the ways my research participants imagined and contested culture, identity, and belonging.
Category:
Writing
Imperial Feminism, Islamophobia, and the Egyptian Revolution
Often ignored in U.S. discussions on Egypt is how protests led by labor unions—many women-based labor unions in the manufacturing cities of Egypt—have catalyzed the Egyptian revolution (Paul Amar, 02-05-11). The women now holding down Tahrir Square as we speak—are of all ages and social groups and their struggle cannot be explained through Orientalist tropes that reduce Arab women to passive victims of culture or religion or Islam.
Human Rights from the Ground Up: Women and the Egyptian Revolution
Amid ongoing battles over the shape of political systems in the Arab world, intense sexual violence against women in those countries, and protest movements by women fighting for their rights, advancing the causes of Arab women is of utmost importance. Yet international human rights advocates often confront the struggles of women in Arab countries far too simplistically.
Radical Mothering and the Egyptian Revolution
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 4PMInstitute for the Humanities701 S. Morgan St. // Chicago, IL Radical Mothering and the Egyptian Revolution This lecture is based upon ethnographic research with leftist women activists who participated in the Egyptian revolution of...
ARAB AMERICA: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism
How to Write-Out Your Theoretical/Analytical Approach
Do you ever feel like you “can’t write theory”? If so, you’re not alone. Most of my workshop participants say that “writing theory” makes them feel: tortured | overwhelmed | stuck | in chaos | like an imposter But it’s not you! It’s what Barbara Christian affirmed...
Stop Giving Your Power Away
Academic oppression is breaking us. Nearly every social justice-based scholar I know goes through it—especially junior BIPOC scholars. Despite our expertise, many of us question the very worth of our scholarship within the university. The university’s competitive,...
Disarming the Gatekeepers
Do you ever find yourself obsessing over what gatekeepers are going to think about your work? Have you ever feared that you may not survive an academic evaluation? Of course, hierarchical academic structures–reviews, tenure evaluations, etc.--create the conditions...
The Radical Future of Our Emotions
Are you in a toxic relationship with academia? During my Liberate Your Research workshops with faculty and graduate students of color, I ask participants to share how they feel about their research. In every workshop, nearly...
Why We Need Interdependence
Do you ever feel too exhausted to write? Let’s be real. Internalized academic oppression exhausts us. Traumatic experiences in our fields and on our campuses can lead many of us to ruminate: Do I even have the right to be in academia? How is my critique any different...
The 3 R’s of Activist Research: Responsible, Relational, and Revolutionary (Part 1)
Scholars working within or outside the university tend to have access to radical theories about topics like abolition, decolonization, intersectionality, queer justice, disabilty justice, and beyond. Yet far less opportunity exists to learn and develop radical...
SAKINA for Easing Internalized Academic Oppression
Over the years, I have been paying attention to the anxieties radical scholars face: imposter syndrome, overwhelm, and fear. Over and over, people tell me things like: I spend 50% of my writing time constrained by these anxieties. I go through complete despair. It...