Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1999, page 124

Book Reviews

Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States

By Evelyn Shakir, Praeger Publishers, 1997, 226 pp. List: $22.95; AET: $18.00.

Reviewed by Samia El-Mahdi

Through a collection of lively interviews and stories, Evelyn Shakir tells the story of Arab and Arab-American women in the United States in her book, Bint Arab. She begins with the wave of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continues her exploration of important issues facing Arabs and Arab Americans to the present day. She employs the experiences she relates to address the cultural and social differences which separate the United States and the Arab world.

Shakir contends that there exists a great gap in the history of Arab women who immigrate to the United States. According to Shakir, “Once they [Arab women] come to this country [the United States], a great silence descends. Very little is available on what happens to them (or happened to their predecessors) and even less on the lives of their daughters.” Shakir’s book attempts to fill these gaps. “If we are willing to listen,” she writes, “Arab women are talking about themselves.”

Shakir addresses American feminism with mixed emotions. Some of her interviewees claim to find comfort in the feminist movement. However, Shakir accuses American feminists of having “a vested interest in broadcasting stories of savage Arab men and perpetuating the stereotype of the passive, pathetic Arab woman, needing to be roused from her moral, intellectual, and political stupor.”

One Arab-American woman interviewed by Shakir expressed her frustration that American feminists often advocated Zionism and supported Israel. Consequently, any anti-Israeli sentiments were depicted as anti-feminist. Shakir expresses regret that Palestinian feminists “have not only had to battle against foreign occupation and against reactionary forces within their own community, but also have had to mount a third front against Western feminists who claim to speak on their behalf but wind up, in effect, lampooning them.”

Shakir not only expresses distrust toward American feminists, but toward the United States in general. She concedes that the United States “may offer immigrant women new opportunities for self-direction and achievement, yet often seems dangerously hostile to the Arab world.” The problems caused by American relations with the Middle East not only color the experiences of immigrants to the U.S., but also cast a shadow over their descendants. “For daughters and granddaughters,” Shakir writes, “the conflict is similar, a tug of war between attachment to the land of their birth (the United States) and anger or frustration at American policies in the Middle East.”

Several of the descendants of Arab immigrants interviewed by Shakir expressed varying degrees of identity conflict. While feeling a sense of loyalty and belonging to the country of their birth, many also felt ties to the birth country (countries) of their ancestors. “Women of Arab ancestry in America want to feel ourselves, spiritually if not physically, a part of our ethnic community, but at the same time need role models from our collective past,” Shakir writes.

This “dual identity” felt by many Arab-American descendants has caused loneliness among many of the women interviewed in Bint Arab. Some women express frustration with the dating system in the United States, which differs greatly from courtship in the Arab world. The women generally feel caught between two conflicting ideals, and when they are unable to reconcile cultural and social differences, they feel isolated and lonely. On the other hand, women who successfully combined the two cultures felt a greater sense of self. After much deliberation and frustration over her identity, one woman finally “realized it was actually good to be Arab American because you get the best of both worlds.”

Bint Arab raises the need for addressing mutual lack of understanding among Arab Americans and the general American public. When Arab Americans feel misunderstood by their fellow Americans, their frustration leads to isolation and disintegration. This approach is counterproductive. By interacting with each other, both Arab Americans and other Americans can benefit from a greater mutual understanding and respect.

Shakir’s book is a valuable resource in the study of Arab women immigrants and their descendants, and also presents a variety of viewpoints on contemporary issues facing Arab and Arab-American women in the United States.