Unlike the other readings in this semester thus far, a male writes this novel. It is evident through the book that while he may feel he sympathizes with the plight of Egyptian women, he obviously does not. The stories and dimensions of the female characters show Aswany’s true perception of women. While all females … Read more
In Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building, the author chronicles the everyday life of an assortment of people who live and work in this antiquated downtown Cairo building in the 1990’s. Among the main characters that the story follows is Hatim Rasheed, the respectable editor-in-chief of Le Caire, a French newspaper, and a homosexual. While … Read more
After the removal of the Pahlavi dynasty, the poor and mistreated citizens revolted against those who had been prospering under the Shah. They interrogated and imprisoned those they felt guilty of respecting the Shah and opposing the Islamists that were attempting to take power. Septembers of Shiraz describes this reign of terror as people lived … Read more
by Kristin Wade In the year 2004, 2,774 women were killed in the name of honor, primarily in the Middle East and Eurasian countries. Honor killings are committed when a relative is thought to bring shame to a family. The murdering of the shamed family member is supposed to restore honor within the family. Actions … Read more
The country of Mauritania in the Sahel of Africa, separating the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa from the Saharan Desert, was the last country to abolish slavery and still 10-20% of the population is enslaved. This is the courageous story of a woman named Marieme who escaped from slavery and now lives in Ohio with her … Read more
Susan Davis President and CEO of BRAC USA Posted: June 25, 2010 05:07 PM While the UN says that the world is on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015, progress toward goal #5, to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, remains the target for which … Read more
The ethically questionable actions of the characters in The Yacoubian Building illustrate the moral deficits that can arise from a corrupt political system. Alaa al-Aswany put his characters in unfortunate circumstances to show how the shortcomings of the government altered many of the characters’ views of morality. For example, even though Hagg Azzam attained his … Read more
As many of you have noticed, the media has the tendency to portray women and girls in a way that emphasizes physical beauty above all else and shows them as sexual and promiscuous creatures that aim to please the male viewers . I have visited a website that challenges these ideas and aims to educate the public of how … Read more
This is an opinion peace I found on CNN’s website. Lemmon talks about how the women of Afghanistan are being affected by the recent tragedies that have occurred in the country. She talks about how if the U.S. was to pull out, women would be the first to be subjected to harsh and even more … Read more
Given that March 8th is approaching, I wanted to remind everyone that International Women’s Day is a day that should be celebrated. I researched the day a bit and found that the website of: A History of International Women’s Day has plenty of historical information to help us all appreciate and understand this very important … Read more