Auto/Biography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East [Hardcover]

Mary Ann Fay (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0312219660 | ISBN-13: 978-0312219666

Ranging from the early modern period to the present day, this edited collection uses biography as a window into the history of the Arab-Islamic Middle East. The contributors reinterpret the lives of the famous such as George Antonius and Doria Shafiq and rediscover the lives of individuals previously consigned to the margins of history, including the notorious individuals of 17th-century Syria and the 20th-century Palestinian activist Kulthum Auda. The book also draws on the biographical tradition of Arab historical writing, including biographical dictionaries, for an understanding of the region’s social and cultural history. Interdisciplinary in scope and theoretically informed, this volume brings to light individual lives which are essential to an understanding of Middle Eastern history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This primer on contemporary Africa by a longtime observer of the continent is more effective for its sociopolitical background to the region's various catastrophes than for its proposed solutions to them. Schwab (Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo), a professor of political science at SUNY-Purchase, comprehensively details the disintegration of the immediate postcolonial euphoria into political chaos, impoverishment and health disasters. Schwab, who first traveled to Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1960s, covers the topic simply and offers brief, invaluable descriptions of several countries' circumstances. The information is no less tragic for its familiarity. The malaria rate in Africa has increased by 60% during the last 30 years, according to the U.N., and in some countries the AIDS rate exceeds 20% among adults. Schwab's observation that, in Burundi, the state "has ceased to exist," applies to various other sub-Saharan countries. Several events in the late 1990s placed the Ivory Coast, for instance, "on the edge of an abyss": a new administration banned northern Muslim Ivorians from running for president; 350,000 Liberian refugees arrived; and a coup installed a military dictatorship. Regarding the future, Schwab treads on shakier ground. He argues cogently that Western policy must focus on Africa's needs, and not solely on Western geopolitical interests. But he fails to offer concrete ideas for implementing such an approach. Some might fault Schwab for simultaneously criticizing Washington for the nature of its interventions and for not intervening enough, but regarding Africa's recent struggles, readers will gain much from this astute analysis.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...an extremely interesting collection of essays, partly because of the authors' different perspectives and backgrounds."--Stephen Frederic Dale, Biography

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312219660
• ISBN-13: 978-0312219666
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #863,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Biography writing in the Middle East, December 11, 2009

By 

William Garrison Jr. (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Auto/Biography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East (Hardcover)

In error, one of the Publisher's book reviews states that "Auto/Biography" pertains to health and economic concerns in Africa; big error, instead, "Auto/Biography" pertains to a handful of biographers of personalities in Middle Eastern countries. Thirteen authors contributed fourteen articles pertaining to the development of biographical writing in the Middle East during the past 1,000 years. Their articles are on the subjects of: Khary al-Din al-Ramli (the Prophet's biographer); Muhammad ibn Maryam and his 16th-century biographical dictionary; Identity in early modern 18th-century Damascus (M. Khalil, ibn Kannan); Infamous women and famous wombs in contemporary Egypt; the Autobiography of military officer Khalid Mohieddin (1990); Women of power in Ottoman Cairo (c. 1700-1850 A.D., re: emancipated female slaves); Biography of an Iraqi modernist: liberal scholar Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (1890s); George Antonius in pre-WWII Middle East; Palestinian ethnographer Kulthum Auda (1930s); some `Egyptian Women Activists' [c. 1920-1990: Aida, Shahida, Amal] by author Nadje S. al-Ali; `Being Sudanese in Twentieth-century Egypt'; and `The Question of Writing Pre-modern Biographies of the Middle East' (1990s) by Virginia Aksan. Wow, a variety of topics; for the scholar/writer who is interested in studying how the style of biographical writing developed (especially from Muslim/Arab perspectives). Even Virginia Woolf is quoted (p. 204).