Intimate Selving in Arab Families: Gender, Self, and Identity

Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East

by Suad Joseph (Editor)

The study of relationships—a topic which has received considerable attention in Europe, the United States, and parts of Asia, until now has not been addressed in the Arab world. Here for the first time are articles written by native feminist scholars that focus on intimate Arab familial relationships and provide a scholarly discussion of gendering of the self (the process of intimate selving) in the Arab community. The book is divided into three biographical and autobiographical; ethnographic; and literary accounts in which the authors identify key family relationships—mother-son, brother-sister, mother-daughter-granddaughter, co-wives, and father-daughter—and explore them in terms of shaping and defining gender in relation to others.

336 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Suad Joseph is Professor of Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of California, Davis and current President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. Her research addresses issues of gender; families, children, and youth; sociology of the family; and selfhood, citizenship, and the state in the Middle East. Joseph is the founder of the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association, the founder and coordinator of the Arab Families Working Group, the founder of the Association for Middle East Women's Studies, the General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, and the Founding Director of the Middle East/South Asian Studies Program at the University of California at Davis. She is also the founder and facilitator of the American University of Beirut, American University in Cairo, Lebanese American University, University of California at Davis, and Birzeit University Consortium.

Reviews

[Amal · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتب لطيف ، الصوت الأعم لنساء نخبويات ، تقاطعت حياتهن مع عدة مدن وأشكال للحياة وحظين بفرض للتعليم والاكتمال ، أيضاً في لحظات هامة من التاريخ ، لكن الطموح كان أكبر من المعروض ، تيمة هامة ومحتاجة حفر أكثر وتعميق أكثر ، ربما يجب صنع اجزاء من الكتاب لاتاحة الفرصة لأصوات أكثر تنوعاً وشباباً للتعبير عن عوالم النساء العربيات