Je suis née par hasard. D’une rencontre fortuite entre un spermatozoïde pétulant et tenace et un ovule paresseux bien niché, dans une chaleur salutaire, dans son univers utérin. Fille d’un brassage chromosomique, d’un partage de bagage héréditaire porté par une femme bien rangée, de bonne famille et surtout mère de famille dévouée et prête à […]
Category Archives: Women’s Roles and Situations
Happy International Women's Day from Red Lips High Heels
Celebrating Women in our Families – International Women's Day (American University in Dubai)
Writing history – and defining our identity, individually and collectively – is linked to memory and memorialization, which never seem to be complete. Someone is always forgotten. Pieces of the puzzle are always missing. I tend to agree with Napoleon or whoever said “History is but a fable agreed upon”. In the history – or […]
Fifty Shades of Black and Blue: Romanticising Abuse
On-screen, Angelina Jolie-as-Maleficent screams in surround-sound, her anguish visible in HD. A little girl sits cross-legged before the screen, her glassy eyes wide and reflecting the scene playing out on the television. Only six years old, she turns around and asks this reporter why Maleficent the fairy is screaming, and why the “bad man took […]
Cages
As I walked down the hallway of the department of religion and sociology, my attention was caught by the writing on the wall. Words surrounding a caged bird. As I came closer, nothing made sense, except for a few scattered. So I stepped back and read what became an invitation to awaken oneself to the […]
فتاةٌ تتوقَّف
حدودي غريبةٌ تتجاوز أفكار رجلٍ نسي زوجاته في حضني الضغِنِ، تتأرجح على كانونٍ بيتيَ فتداعب جُذى الفائت ورمادَ الآتي. حدودي مرقَصٌ تلهو فيه الآلهة فتهجر البشر وتنصهر أفكارها في أعضائي الفرحة المتلاشية، تشارك شارعي الفارغ في حريّة السواد العائد يشدو بين خُصَل شعري المُشرِكِ. حدودي حوضٌ تتعرّى في عزلة قحطه كلماتُ الجواري فتسافر فيها أفئدة […]
Celebrating Women in our Families!
Join us this Sunday to celebrate women in our families! With my MEST ‘Women and Gender in the Middle East’ students. On the menu: intergenerational/intercultural homemade buffet, live art work and creative writing! #AUD (American University in Dubai, Media City)
Women and Religions (Workshop, American University in Dubai)
When it comes to religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there are many approaches that describe the nature, status and roles of women: from egalitarian to complementarian and traditionalist, from liberal to conservative, and every approach refers to the sacred scriptures while using a different interpretation of the same verses. Should we look for […]
Rape Culture in the UAE
Rates of sexual harassment continue to rise in the Middle East, feasibly linked to culture-enforced lack of sex education, experts say. In an interview with Joan Abdalla, a Counselor and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the American University in Dubai, she has revealed that the absence of awareness could be a contributing factor to how […]
A visit to the Women's Museum in Dubai
Amazing fieldtrip with my ‘Women and Gender in the Middle East’ students (American University in Dubai, Middle Eastern Studies Division)! We explored a unique cultural space in the Arab world where UAE women’s lives and achievements are celebrated. The Women’s Museum was established by the Emirati professor Rafia Ghubash in 2012 in order to preserve […]