Opening the Gates: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing

Book Overview

The second edition of this highly successful anthology of feminist writings by Arab women-essays, poems, folktales, short stories, memoirs, and speeches-includes a generous selection of texts produced since publication of the first edition in 1990. These new selections expand upon the themes of awareness, rejection, and activism that marked the multiple forms of Arab women's feminist expression over the course of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253217032
• ISBN13: 9780253217035
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (Ips)
• Length: 461 Pages
• Weight: 1.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

easy reading with complicated ideas!

I absolutely love this book.It gave me a wholistic view of women's lives in the Middle East. I love the combination of short fictional stories, autobiographies, and essays. This book is entertaining as well as mind opening.

My thought on "Zainaba"

This is a story about a nurse (Zainaba) who lives in Mauritana. Zainaba and her friend has established a training "programme" for traditional midwives living in isolated communites. As part of the "programme" they discuss female circumcision to the midwives. This story is very informing and interesting.

Required for anyone interested in the souls of Arab women!

Six years ago my girlfriend gave me this book, I am ever grateful to her and the persons who compiled these writings. As an American born Arab woman, Opening the gates gave me a sense of pride to be Arab and to be an Arab woman that no other book has done. I actually read stories in this book that my aunt (a woman with no formal education, living in a small village under Israeli occupation in the West Bank) used to tell me as a child. I was able to see that even in the simplist of Arab women and even as far back as a hundred years, flickers the flame of independence and the yearning to be recognized and appreciated as equal contributing members of society and mankind.