Understanding Arab Feminism through Feminist Translation and Critique of the Modern Arabic Novel
[Thesis]
Rashed, Ruba H.
Youssef, Mary
State University of New York at Binghamton
2019
157
Ph.D.
State University of New York at Binghamton
2019
Arab feminism is often undermined because of Western feminism's presupposition of a universal oppressive patriarchy which affects women globally in the exact same way. These assumptions result in the misrepresentations of Arab women as oppressed victims and negligence of Arab women's issues which should be contextualized in relevance to race, class, economy, politics, location, and history. Drawing on transnational feminist theory, I suggest that a feminist critique and translation of the modern Arab novel with a female protagonist can reveal local feminist traditions in the Arab world and present them as innate and original responses to the issues of Arab women. As an Arab feminist scholar aiming for a true and informed women's solidarity which does not ascribe to notions of sameness, I offer in this dissertation a feminist critique of my feminist translation of the Jordanian novel, Qutb Henna, by Mutasem Subeih to highlight the struggles of Jordanian women and their own feminisms.