Three Nights With Scherhazade

A Summary of Middle Eastern Feminism and How The Eighties Changed Things

Presenter: Claire Wilson

Co-Presenter(s):
N/A

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor:

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1YY6CTRmOLrnabCnwasLdoaMrbyS83-5J

Abstract:
Scherhazade "lived" and told her stories long before the nineteen eighties, and long before popular feminist ideas were circulating anywhere, but she still seems to radiate the energy of a feminist icon that would be revered now. How the history of feminism in the Middle East differentiates enough from the history of feminism in the West, is able to foster a beautiful conversation between women from both hemispheres. This piece of creative writing imagines a situation in which women from the West get lost in Damascus, the traditional storytelling of the region, and the history of Eastern women and their feminisms.