Zitationsvorschlag
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Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International.
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Between Agency and Victimhood: Forms of Self-Assertion in Leila Ahmed’s A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman’s Journey (1999) and Wafa Faith Hallam’s The Road from Morocco (2011
ABSTRACT This chapter examines forms of self-assertion in two memoirs—A Border Passage (1999) by Egyptian writer Leila Ahmed and The Road from Morocco (2011) by Moroccan author Wafa Faith Hallam—with reference to Arab identity as a fluid notion and its connection to Islam and gender hierarchies. We argue that Ahmed and Hallam, despite being modern and privileged Muslim women from the Arab world, assert themselves in very different ways in their writings, as they leave their (home)lands and venture abroad for a life they have desired. To this end, we analyze how Ahmed’s and Hallam’s multiple journeys demonstrate resilience against political and cultural hurdles in diverse cultural settings. We also investigate the memoirs as a family archive which allows the authors to present their ways of seeing and exploring personal, familial, and national histories; exercise agency; and deny victimhood against all odds, thus showing courage in the wake of new challenges at home and abroad.
KEYWORDS agency, victimhood, Arab autobiography, Arabness, resistance and resilience
