Category Archives: Arts and Poetry

The Old Man or Problems of Patriarchy

Tariq peered out of the window of the living room of his third-floor flat, watching a glow-worm of traffic inch its way in puma-wrapped technicolour across the wide thoroughfares of Al Barsha 1, Dubai. Of course, he’d quite gotten used to the way the traffic signals changed colour by the eon rather than by the minute, though he himself rarely drove in Dubai.

The Only Woman Composer

Above the traffic of the street below, pocking the low periwinkle sky with polka-dots of errant lighting, colour, Maryam was twiddling her thumbs.  Outside the wall-wide window, the vehicles in this, one of Beirut’s most uppity zones, made honking sounds like tweezers or like thick blobs of sound on the air, with the odd swift […]

Reeds from Red Lips – Dr. Pamela Chrabieh (American University in Dubai News)

AUD School of Arts and Sciences Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Dr. Pamela Chrabieh has recently edited and published a book entitled Reeds from Red Lips on Arts and Gender in Southwestern Asia. The book includes diverse stories told through poetry and prose in English, French, Modern Standard Arabic and Lebanese, and encompasses a […]

A Little Empathy Would Go A Long Way

I attended a Dubai Slam Poetry session few days ago and one of the talented young poets, Syrian Sarah Tamimi, told the story of war through a daughter’s promise to her departed mother: ‘Don’t look back’… What I understood from Sarah’s tearful performance which content evoked my own experience in Lebanon’s physical war zone in […]

Wonder Women

As a female, growing up in Saudi has had a huge impact on my lifestyle, perceptions and way of thinking. Although I am not originally from Saudi, living there my whole life has affected me enormously in different aspects of my life such as the way I speak and dress up. Moreover, as the Middle […]

Rise

Many women have been exposed to cruel mistreatment from family members and partners in life. Women who are exposed to domestic violence often experience physical, mental or spiritual traumas that can be worsen if they are not addressed. Furthermore it is common for women in an abusive relationship not to recall many aspects of their […]

Nazret Mogtama3 نظرة مجتمع

I’m a 20 year old Muslim Egyptian girl who was born and raised in Dubai. However, I visit my home country every year (…). In my family, I’m the only girl who is not wearing a Hijab and I get judged for that – ‘a girl who doesn’t fulfill her religious duties’. It used to […]

مرأةٌ جوهر كتاب

  أنا كتابٌ لا تحدّه الصفحاتُ، أمامي مدافعٌ تودّ بطلقاتها وضعَ فواصلٍ تفصلني عن معادي.   أمامي أيسٌ يضع في صُلبيَ حركاتٍ تحرّك أحشائي لتقيّدها، فتخضّها أرجائي وتبصقها أمعائي.   تحتي ثلوجٌ تريدني مستريحةً خامدة تتلفّقني وتمحي دهوري فلا ينبت عشبٌ ولا تمطر الدوالي.   على مياه ملاعبي بجعٌ أسود ضاق ذرعاً بالألوان، وحده لا […]