The Career and Communities of Zaynab Fawwaz: Feminist Thinking in Fin-de-siecle Egypt

Zaynab Fawwaz was a pioneering writer on women's and girls' aspirations and rights in 1890s Egypt, emphasizing the centrality of gender as a marker of social difference to the Arabic knowledge movement. She published essays, novels, and plays, and worked as an informant for the Egyptian khedive. Her views on social justice, marriage, divorce, polygyny, gender-nature debate, education, imperialism, and Islamophobia are explored in the book. She also used history in fiction to criticize patriarchal control and her play as an intervention into reformist theatre. Fawwaz articulated an ethics of social belonging and sociality based on Islamic precepts of gender justice and criticized male intellectuals for using tradition to silence women and deny their aspirations.

Format: Hardback
Length: 624 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Zaynab Fawwaz, a remarkable writer who lived in the 1890s in Egypt, emerged from a humble background in the Shi I community of Jabal Amil, which is now Lebanon. Despite her obscure beginnings, she became a prominent voice advocating for women's and girls' aspirations and rights. Fawwaz's book, which emphasizes the centrality of gender as a marker of social difference in the Arabic knowledge movement known as Nahda, sheds light on her unique life history and political engagements.

Through her essays and debates in the Egyptian and Ottoman-Arabic press, Fawwaz published two novels and the first play known to have been written by a female writer in Arabic. This book delves into her unconventional life journey, encompassing her work as an informant for the Egyptian khedive. It comprises a series of thematically focused chapters that explore her perspectives on social justice, marriage, divorce, polygyny, the gender-nature debate in the context of local understandings of Darwinism, education, and imperialism, as well as Islamophobia. Additionally, it examines her contributions to the first Arabic women's magazine and her role in shaping subsequent women's magazines.

Fawwaz's work also critically examines patriarchal control over young women's lives through her use of history in fiction and her intervention into reformist theatre. She raises important questions about women's access to public culture in 1890s Egypt, highlighting the challenges and barriers they faced. Questions of desirable masculinities play a central role in her writings, as she challenges traditional notions of gender roles and advocates for gender justice based on Islamic principles.

In addition to her literary contributions, Fawwaz is renowned for her massive biographical dictionary of world women. Through this work, she articulated an ethics of social belonging and sociality that was grounded in Islamic precepts of gender justice. She critiqued the ways male intellectuals had used tradition to silence women and deny their aspirations.

Zaynab Fawwaz's life and work serve as a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of challenging societal norms and gender norms. Her legacy continues to inspire and influence contemporary discussions on gender equality, women's rights, and social justice.

Weight: 1076g
Dimension: 240 x 162 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192846198