Reading, Meeting, Continuing to think ...
In a previous post I mentioned that I'm beginning to think about how to structure a course on gender and the Middle East. The current book on my nightstand is Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Here's a clip from the Washington Post review of the book:
"I am Ayaan, the daughter of Hirsi, the son of Magan."
In the first scene of Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a child of 5, sitting on a grass mat. Her grandmother is teaching her to recite the names of her ancestors, as all Somali children must learn to do. "Get it right," her grandmother warns. "They are your bloodline. . . . If you dishonor them you will be forsaken. You will be nothing. You will lead a wretched life and die alone."
Thus begins the extraordinary story of a woman born into a family of desert nomads, circumcised as a child, educated by radical imams in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, taught to believe that if she uncovered her hair, terrible tragedies would ensue. It's a story that, with a few different twists, really could have led to a wretched life and a lonely death, as her grandmother warned. But instead, Hirsi Ali escaped -- and transformed herself into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of Muslim women.
The break began when she slipped away from her family on her way to a forced marriage in Canada and talked her way into political asylum in Holland, using a story she herself calls "an invention." Soon after arriving, she removed her head scarf to see if God would strike her dead. He did not. Nor were there divine consequences when, defying her ancestors, she donned blue jeans, rode a bicycle, enrolled in university, became a Dutch citizen, began to speak publicly about the mistreatment of Muslim women in Holland and won election to the Dutch parliament.
But tragedy followed fame. In 2004, Hirsi Ali helped a Dutch director, Theo van Gogh, make a controversial film, "Submission," about Muslim women suffering from forced marriages and wife beating. Van Gogh was murdered by an angry Muslim radical in response, and Hirsi Ali went into hiding. The press began to explore her past, discovering the "inventions" that she had used to get her refugee status. The Dutch threatened to revoke her citizenship; the American Enterprise Institute offered her a job in Washington.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's is a fascinating story which helps the reader understand the nature of Islamic fundamentalism. Her focus is both on gender and on religious extremism, and her writing style is as compelling as the tale she has to tell.
On a more local front, I recently had the privilege of meeting a Burlington artist who is working on an incredible project about the lives of five women. Interested in personal identity and gender, Valerie Hird invited four women from Middle Eastern countries to submit a diary entry on a set day each month for a year; she herself also completed a diary entry on the appointed day each month. She is now working to create illustrated journals of the lives as they unfolded, capturing both their daily drama and their everyday simplicity.
I hope you'll check out Valerie Hird's website to learn more about her work. Click on the Maiden Voyages link to read about this particular project and to see some of the diaries in progress.
http://www.valeriehird.com/
