Research Article
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Year 2020, Volume: 30 Issue: 1, 137 - 154, 23.06.2020
https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0005

Abstract

References

  • Abou-bakr. O. (2014). Trends and direction in contemporary islamic feminist research. In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (pp. 333-344). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Ahmed-Ghosh, H. (2008). Dilemmas of Islamic and secular feminists and feminisms. Journal of International Women’s Studies. 9(3), 99-116.
  • Ali, H, A. (2015). Why Islam needs a reformation now. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
  • Alsultany, E. (2011). Stealth Muslim. In R. Abdulhadi, A. Evelyn, & N. Naber (Eds.), Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence and Belonging (pp. 307-315). New York: Syracuse University Press.
  • Amin, Q. (1992). The liberation of women and the new woman: Two documents in the history of Egyptian feminism. Cairo: The American University Press in Cairo.
  • Badran, M. (2002). Islamic feminism: What’s in a name? Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved from: http://weekly.ahram. org.eg/Archive/2002/569/cu1.htm
  • Badran, M. (2005). Between secular and Islamic feminism/s: Reflections on the middle east and beyond. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. Duke University Press, 1(1), 6-28.
  • Badran, M. (2008). Islam’s Other Half. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ belief/2008/nov/09/islam-women.
  • Bahi, R. (2011). Islamic and secular feminisms: two discourses mobilized for gender justice. 25. RSCAS. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
  • Bardan, M. (2001). Understanding Islam, Islamism, and Islamic feminism. Journal of Women’s History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 13(1), 47-52.
  • Bardan, M. (2013). Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergence. London: Oneworld Publications. E-book edition.
  • Barlas, A. (2002). Believing women in Islam: Unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Quran. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • Boulnouar, AW. (2006). The notion of modesty in Muslim women’s clothing: An Islamic point view. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 8(2), 134-156.
  • Cooke, M. (2001). Women claim Islam: Creating Islamic feminism through literature. New York: Routledge.
  • Duderija, A. (2017). The imperatives if progressive Islam. New York: Routledge.
  • Fernea, E. W. (1998). In Search of Islamic feminism: One woman’s global journey. New York: Anchor Books.
  • Gonzalez, A, L. (2013). Islamic feminism in Kuwait: The Politics and Paradoxes. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • Grami, A. (2014). Islamic Feminism: A New feminist movement or a strategy by women for acquiring rights? In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (317-333). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Hatem, M. (2014). What do women want? A critical mapping of future directions for Arab feminisms. In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (3-19). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Husain, F., & Crabtree, S, A. (2012). Within, Without: Dialogical Perspectives on Feminism and Islam. Religion and Gender, 2(1), 128- 149.
  • Kahf, M. (2006). The girl in the tangerine scarf. New York: Caroll and Graf Publishers.
  • Karam, A, M. (1998). Women, Islamism and the State: Contemporary Feminisms in Egypt. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Katz, M, H. (2003). The problem of abortion in classical sunni fiqh. In E. B. Jonathan (Ed.), Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War, and Euthanasia (25-50). Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
  • Khanam, F. (Ed.). (2009). The Quran (W. Khan, Trans). Birmingham, UK: Goodword Books.
  • Ludescher, T. (2006). From nostalgia to critique: An overview of Arab-American literature. MELUS, 31(4), 93-114.
  • Mernissi, F. (2011). Beyond the veil: Male-female dynamics in muslim society. London: Saqi Books. E-book edition.
  • Mir-Hosseini, M. (2013). Justice, equality and Muslim family laws: New ideas, new prospects. In Z. Mir-Hosseini, V. Kari, L. Larsen, & M. Christian (Eds.), Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Tradition (pp. 7-37). London: I.B Tauris.
  • Mir-Housseini, Z. (2006). Muslim women’s quest for equality: Between Islamic law and feminism. Critical Inquiry, 32(4), 629-645.
  • Moghadam, V, M. (2002). Islamic feminism and its discontents: Toward a resolution of debate. Signs, 27(4), 11351171.
  • Moghissi, H. (2011). Islamic feminism revisited. Comparatives Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Duke University Press, 31(1), 76-84.
  • Salah, H. (2010). From Ijtihad to gender jihad: Islamic feminists between regional activism and transnationalism. In Diversity and Female Political Participation: Views on and from the Arab World (pp. 27-47). (Ed), 21, Heinrich Boll Foundation: Publication Series on Democracy.
  • Wadud, A. (2000). Alternative Quranic interpretation and the status of Muslim women. In G. Webb (Ed), Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists of North America (pp. 3-22). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
  • Wadud, A. (2006). Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam. Oxford: Oneworld Publication.
  • Yamani, M. (Ed.). (1996). Feminism and Islam: Legal and literary perspective. Reading: Garnet Publishing Limited.

Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Year 2020, Volume: 30 Issue: 1, 137 - 154, 23.06.2020
https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0005

Abstract

The hybrid belonging of Arab American women, particularly Muslims, makes their feminism a complex notion. Being in the USA gives Arab American female authors the opportunity, through various literary genres such as poetry, fiction, and memoirs, to express themselves and voice their concerns for Arab women in their homeland and/or country of residence – this is due to the necessity of collaboration to resist the gender stereotypes inflicted on Arab and Muslim women in the USA and religious and social structures in the Arab world that directly or indirectly oppress and confine them. Islamic and secular feminisms, excluding other forms of feminism such as transnational and postcolonial, are the most prominent feminist paradigms embraced by Arab women in their motherlands and host-lands to negotiate their rights and express their concerns. Taking The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006) as a sample of Arab American fiction produced by Mohja Kahf, an Arab American female author whose identity entails Islamic background, this paper examines the process of negotiation that Khadra Shamy, an Arab American female protagonist, goes through to negotiate her feminist identity in both realms i.e. Mecca and Indianapolis. Stemming from Islamic and secular feminist paradigms based on perspectives of prominent feminist critics such as Margot Badran and Fatima Mernissi, I argue that Khadra, as a female diasporic figure, embraces a hybrid feminism to better understand her gender identity and effectively negotiate and claim her rights.

References

  • Abou-bakr. O. (2014). Trends and direction in contemporary islamic feminist research. In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (pp. 333-344). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Ahmed-Ghosh, H. (2008). Dilemmas of Islamic and secular feminists and feminisms. Journal of International Women’s Studies. 9(3), 99-116.
  • Ali, H, A. (2015). Why Islam needs a reformation now. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
  • Alsultany, E. (2011). Stealth Muslim. In R. Abdulhadi, A. Evelyn, & N. Naber (Eds.), Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence and Belonging (pp. 307-315). New York: Syracuse University Press.
  • Amin, Q. (1992). The liberation of women and the new woman: Two documents in the history of Egyptian feminism. Cairo: The American University Press in Cairo.
  • Badran, M. (2002). Islamic feminism: What’s in a name? Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved from: http://weekly.ahram. org.eg/Archive/2002/569/cu1.htm
  • Badran, M. (2005). Between secular and Islamic feminism/s: Reflections on the middle east and beyond. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. Duke University Press, 1(1), 6-28.
  • Badran, M. (2008). Islam’s Other Half. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ belief/2008/nov/09/islam-women.
  • Bahi, R. (2011). Islamic and secular feminisms: two discourses mobilized for gender justice. 25. RSCAS. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
  • Bardan, M. (2001). Understanding Islam, Islamism, and Islamic feminism. Journal of Women’s History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 13(1), 47-52.
  • Bardan, M. (2013). Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergence. London: Oneworld Publications. E-book edition.
  • Barlas, A. (2002). Believing women in Islam: Unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Quran. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • Boulnouar, AW. (2006). The notion of modesty in Muslim women’s clothing: An Islamic point view. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 8(2), 134-156.
  • Cooke, M. (2001). Women claim Islam: Creating Islamic feminism through literature. New York: Routledge.
  • Duderija, A. (2017). The imperatives if progressive Islam. New York: Routledge.
  • Fernea, E. W. (1998). In Search of Islamic feminism: One woman’s global journey. New York: Anchor Books.
  • Gonzalez, A, L. (2013). Islamic feminism in Kuwait: The Politics and Paradoxes. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • Grami, A. (2014). Islamic Feminism: A New feminist movement or a strategy by women for acquiring rights? In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (317-333). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Hatem, M. (2014). What do women want? A critical mapping of future directions for Arab feminisms. In J. Makdisi., N. Bayoumi & R. Sidawi (Eds.), Arab Feminisms: Gender and Equality in the Middle East (3-19). London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd.
  • Husain, F., & Crabtree, S, A. (2012). Within, Without: Dialogical Perspectives on Feminism and Islam. Religion and Gender, 2(1), 128- 149.
  • Kahf, M. (2006). The girl in the tangerine scarf. New York: Caroll and Graf Publishers.
  • Karam, A, M. (1998). Women, Islamism and the State: Contemporary Feminisms in Egypt. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Katz, M, H. (2003). The problem of abortion in classical sunni fiqh. In E. B. Jonathan (Ed.), Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War, and Euthanasia (25-50). Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
  • Khanam, F. (Ed.). (2009). The Quran (W. Khan, Trans). Birmingham, UK: Goodword Books.
  • Ludescher, T. (2006). From nostalgia to critique: An overview of Arab-American literature. MELUS, 31(4), 93-114.
  • Mernissi, F. (2011). Beyond the veil: Male-female dynamics in muslim society. London: Saqi Books. E-book edition.
  • Mir-Hosseini, M. (2013). Justice, equality and Muslim family laws: New ideas, new prospects. In Z. Mir-Hosseini, V. Kari, L. Larsen, & M. Christian (Eds.), Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Tradition (pp. 7-37). London: I.B Tauris.
  • Mir-Housseini, Z. (2006). Muslim women’s quest for equality: Between Islamic law and feminism. Critical Inquiry, 32(4), 629-645.
  • Moghadam, V, M. (2002). Islamic feminism and its discontents: Toward a resolution of debate. Signs, 27(4), 11351171.
  • Moghissi, H. (2011). Islamic feminism revisited. Comparatives Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Duke University Press, 31(1), 76-84.
  • Salah, H. (2010). From Ijtihad to gender jihad: Islamic feminists between regional activism and transnationalism. In Diversity and Female Political Participation: Views on and from the Arab World (pp. 27-47). (Ed), 21, Heinrich Boll Foundation: Publication Series on Democracy.
  • Wadud, A. (2000). Alternative Quranic interpretation and the status of Muslim women. In G. Webb (Ed), Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists of North America (pp. 3-22). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
  • Wadud, A. (2006). Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam. Oxford: Oneworld Publication.
  • Yamani, M. (Ed.). (1996). Feminism and Islam: Legal and literary perspective. Reading: Garnet Publishing Limited.
There are 34 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Ishak Berrebbah This is me 0000-0002-4355-2214

Publication Date June 23, 2020
Submission Date January 22, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020 Volume: 30 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Berrebbah, I. (2020). Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 30(1), 137-154. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0005
AMA Berrebbah I. Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Litera. June 2020;30(1):137-154. doi:10.26650/LITERA2020-0005
Chicago Berrebbah, Ishak. “Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 30, no. 1 (June 2020): 137-54. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0005.
EndNote Berrebbah I (June 1, 2020) Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 30 1 137–154.
IEEE I. Berrebbah, “Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf”, Litera, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 137–154, 2020, doi: 10.26650/LITERA2020-0005.
ISNAD Berrebbah, Ishak. “Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 30/1 (June 2020), 137-154. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0005.
JAMA Berrebbah I. Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Litera. 2020;30:137–154.
MLA Berrebbah, Ishak. “Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, vol. 30, no. 1, 2020, pp. 137-54, doi:10.26650/LITERA2020-0005.
Vancouver Berrebbah I. Between the Secular and the Islamic: An Arab American Woman’s Journey to Negotiate Feminist Identity in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Litera. 2020;30(1):137-54.