13/11/13

Essay on Ahmed's "A Border Passage": A Novel Of An Intimate Account of Life

80,000 Essays and Terms Papers!

80,000 ESSAYS AND TERM PAPERS Sample Essays Writing Help Center Support Join Now Login
Like 8.6k

Essay Stats
Category: Novels Length: 12 pages (2929 words)

Easy as 1,2,3... 1. Read a few of our sample essays on your topic 2. Develop your own ideas 3. Your paper will practically write itself

+131 Recommander ce contenu sur Google

Save Paper
Save your essays here so you can locate them quickly!

Topics in this Essay

Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser Islam Ahmed Qur An United Arab Republic Muhammad United States America Cambridge University

Essay on Ahmed's "A Border Passage": A Novel Of An Intimate Account of Life

Leila Ahmed, A Border Passage: From Cairo to America - A Woman's Journey. 1999- 2000 New York: Penguin Putnam Inc. In regard to Leila Ahmed's latest novel, the truth is definitely in the title. A border passage is an intimate account of life, and the journey one embarks on when one truly wishes to 'live life.' Ahmed writes about 'border passages,' passages from girlhood to womanhood, citizenship to immigrant, from Arab nationalism to Western feminism, and perhaps most importantly Egyptian to Arab. This book is a memoir, but it doesn't confine itself to the restrictions of the entirely personal. A Border Passage embodies the notion that the personal is political: and the political is also personal. And it's her 'personal' that take on the events that fashioned Egypt, her mother nation, which makes this novel brilliant. Leila Ahmed calls her book just a "work of memory," however it is much more than that. She delves into the Suez Crisis and Nasser's Arab Nationalism, what it means to be Arab and when exactly Egyptians became Arab, and finally the Harem reexamined in regard to "aural" Islam. A Border Passage, is the story of her intellectual and emotional journey from a advantaged childhood in post-world War II Egypt to Cambridge University in the sixties and finally to the United States, where she now teaches and lives. It is a luxuriously perceptive account of the internal conflicts of a generation coming of age during and after the disintegration of European imperialism. Ahmed grew up in the final days of the British Empire, when the words 'the West' 'imperialism' had not yet obtained the implications they embody nowadays, they had not yet become synonyms for 'racism,' 'oppression' and 'exploitation'. (5). Her correlation to colonialism and to English speaking culture is complicated. Race, culture, and language for Ahmed are not in any way black or white, their boundaries are indefinable just like the people who embody and use them. Ahmed had a fundamentally European education. (23). She was raised in a home full of books, she read the British classics and set her sights on Cambridge at an early age. In later years her doctoral dissertation was on Edward William Lane, a 19th century British Orientalist whose work was considered objectionable by some Arab nationalists, but was greatly admired by Ahmed. (231). Although Egypt was not strictly speaking a British colony, it was under Britain's invasive sponsorship until the 1952 revolution that ultimately brought Gamal Abdel Nasser to power. (7) Ahmed's experience of the disintegration of European imperialism is wrought with many painful occurrences. ------Ahmed is subtlety critical of Gamal Abdel Nassar (164), with understandable reason. For Ahmed the revolution was directly related to the upheaval of her family life. Her father was denied his occupation due to his opposition of Nasser's Aswan High Dam project. He was an educated civil engineer who saw the project as being politically motivated and negligent. (165). However, due to the dominance of severe nationalism his resistance was viewed as a hostile form of treason. Consequently, government harassment of the family proceeded, almost costing Ahmed her opportunity to realize her dream of attending University overseas. Ahmed's views on the Nasser's revolution were not complimentary, she believes the revolution blinded her people with high ideals that were far from attainable, no one was allowed to question Nasser, she writes, "In Egypt henceforth there would be no bar to Nasser's doing whatever he wanted anyone even mildly critical of him was purged or somehow or other silenced or got

www.directessays.com/viewpaper/81165.html

1/3

13/11/13

Essay on Ahmed's "A Border Passage": A Novel Of An Intimate Account of Life

rid of." (172). The revolution also obliged her to reexamine her own identity. She was preoccupied about her Christian and Jewish friends who had now become the "other" in this emerging Arab nationalism. This "other" also embodied the Ahmeds due to their interest in Western ideas, culture and education. (173). Nasser's revolution had shattered the multicultural, multi-religious civilization that had been flourishing in Egypt for over a century. ------The despondency of her world was not the only issue that challenged Ahmed. During this upheaval the outside world had been altering and changing too. The conclusion of the European Empire, the ascent of nationalism and t

Continue Reading This Essay

Continue Your Research

Topic of the Issue: The Egyptian Identity: Pharoahs, Moslems, Arabs, Africans, Middle Easterners or Mediterranean People? ... Your Egypt - www.youregypt.com Reviews of National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Egypt 2010 Books - OECD iLibrary - www.oecd-ilibrary.org Lawrence Alma Tadema - Joseph Overseer of Pharaohs Granaries - 1874 arthistory.about.com "Egypt: National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation" www.cbd.int Sufis In Egypt Thrive With More Than 15 Million Despite Attacks By Islamist Hardliners (PHOTOS) - www.huffingtonpost.com Violence breaks out across Egypt as protesters decry Mohammed Morsi's constitutional 'coup' - Telegraph - www.telegraph.co.uk Marsa Matruh, Egypt Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase) www.weatherbase.com

Quotes talked about in this paper Leila Ahmed calls her book just a "work of memory," ... Ahmed makes a crucial point: "For thereafter my life becomes a part of other stories, American stories. It becomes part of the story of feminism in America, the story of women in America, the story of people of color in America, the story of Arabs in America, and part of the story of America itself and of American lives in a world of dissolving boundaries and vanishing borders." ... Ahmed discusses Harem and the idea that there is a clear distinct between lived' Islam and the official' Islam, "and the women had, too, I now believe, their own understanding of Islam, an understanding that was different from men's Islam, official' Islam."(120) There is a curious distinction to be made between what is male' and what is female' in all religions. For there are two distinct realities of religion, one that is quite and reflective, and one that is loud and active, or if you will what is deemed masculine' and feminine.' There is as Ahmed says an idea of "lived" ... Ahmed writes, "there is no priesthood."(125) Which articulates the importance of the right of these women and many other Muslims to their own understanding of Islam.' Not to have an understanding dictated to them, but to be free to worship without a translator between them and God. It is this variety of Islam' that Ahmed calls aural' and oral' heritage. Ahmed expresses that this women's Islam' is not textual' or written' not like the official' Islam but rather, "stresses moral conduct and emphasizes Islam as a broad ethos and ethical code." ... Names mentioned in this research paper American stories, Ahmed., an educated civil engineer, Locations mentioned in this paper exactly Egyptians, Keywords included in this paper Islam, arab, Leila Ahmed, arab nationalism, Nasser, Quran, aural, United States, Harem, revolution, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Suez Crisis, muslim, the quran, borders

www.directessays.com/viewpaper/81165.html

2/3

13/11/13

Essay on Ahmed's "A Border Passage": A Novel Of An Intimate Account of Life

and boundaries, Egypt, one thing, the suez crisis, feminism, post world war ii, Edward William Lane, Aswan High Dam, America, national boundaries, Egyptians, 1952 revolution, her world, logical and, true identity, Penguin Putnam, mother nation, doctoral dissertation, strictly speaking, other people, English speaking, British Empire, British colony, New York, civil engineer, chapter five, human existence, family life, black or white, European education, Islamic faith, Cambridge University, life time, ethical code, redefinition, Abdel,

APA

MLA

Chicago

Ahmed's "A Border Passage": A Novel Of An Intimate Account of Life. (1969, December 31). In DirectEssays.com. Retrieved 11:11, November 13, 2013, from http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/81165.html

Home | Join Now | Support | Essay Writing Help Acceptable Use Policy | About us | Faq

All papers are for research and reference purposes only! 2002-2013 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved. DMCA

www.directessays.com/viewpaper/81165.html

3/3