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A Border Passage: From Cairo to America: A Woman's Journey by Leila AhmedReview by: Clarissa BurtFeminist Review, No. 69, The Realm of the Possible: Middle Eastern Women in Political andSocial Spaces (Winter, 2001), pp. 156-158Published by: Palgrave Macmillan JournalsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1395637.

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OO entertainhose unfamiliar ith Arabic,but whichcertainly ddsto the

es

exoticism f the Englishext.

Ultimatelyhe novel'ssuccess s troubledby the inescapablemergent

uncertaintyoncerninghepolitical orrectnessf present-dayultural nd

economicmperialism,ow with an Egyptianace, ustas the indignities

visitedupon he Egyptian eople n Cromer'simehaveceded o indigni-

tiesandactsof violence isitedbyEgyptianuthoritiesndreligiousanat-

ics.The rritatingndunresolveduestion f incest lsoseems uperfluous

- musteverything e reducibleo Oedipus fterall?Forall its flaws, he

imitationVictorian ovelwoven nto Soueif's wkward icultural illen-

nial reckoning f her relationship ith contemporarygyptmakeThe

Map of Lovewellworth he read.

Clarissa Burt

A Border Passage: From Cairo to America - a

Women's Journey

Leila Ahmed

New York: Farrar,Straus & Giroux, 1999

ISBN0374115184 24.00 Hbk

ISBN0140291830 13.95 Pbk (NY:Penguin, 2000)

LeilaAhmeds oneof themost mportantontemporaryiguresn thefield

of Gender ndWomen's tudies,speciallyn relationo thecontemporary

MiddleEast. Best known for her seminalbook entitledWomen and

Gender n Islam,LeilaAhmed ascontributed idely o openinghe field

andconferring epth o the western cademic iscussion f gendern the

MiddleEast, he Arabworldand Islam.Thisvolume, omprising per-

sonalmemoir,s a further ontributiono that ield,whileat thesame ime

annexing ew ntellectualpace ormulticulturalroductions.t is a post-

colonialmemoirunfolding he constructs f Ahmed'smulti-aspectual

identity,weddedbeautifullyo an exploration f the historical, olitical

and ntellectualircumstancesandchanges)n which hematured.

In a marvellousugueof spirallingmemories, eilaAhmed onducts s

through symphonic econstructionf the developmentf her identity

andconsciousness,ookingbackon herchildhoodn thegardens f privi-

lege n the thenwell-to-domulticulturalndreligiously luralistCairene

suburb f 'AinShams.Herrecollectionf the changesn thatgarden nd

the surroundingeighbourhoodver he course f her ifetimemarkand

measurehe amazing ocialand economic ransformationf Cairoas a

city,as wellas thepersonalortunes f her amily rom he 1940s hrough

the revolution ndNasser's ndSadat's egimes.

156

OO entertainhose unfamiliar ith Arabic,but whichcertainly ddsto the

es

exoticism f the Englishext.

Ultimatelyhe novel'ssuccess s troubledby the inescapablemergent

uncertaintyoncerninghepolitical orrectnessf present-dayultural nd

economicmperialism,ow with an Egyptianace, ustas the indignities

visitedupon he Egyptian eople n Cromer'simehaveceded o indigni-

tiesandactsof violence isitedbyEgyptianuthoritiesndreligiousanat-

ics.The rritatingndunresolveduestion f incest lsoseems uperfluous

- musteverything e reducibleo Oedipus fterall?Forall its flaws, he

imitationVictorian ovelwoven nto Soueif's wkward icultural illen-

nial reckoning f her relationship ith contemporarygyptmakeThe

Map of Lovewellworth he read.

Clarissa Burt

A Border Passage: From Cairo to America - a

Women's Journey

Leila Ahmed

New York: Farrar,Straus & Giroux, 1999

ISBN0374115184 24.00 Hbk

ISBN0140291830 13.95 Pbk (NY:Penguin, 2000)

LeilaAhmeds oneof themost mportantontemporaryiguresn thefield

of Gender ndWomen's tudies,speciallyn relationo thecontemporary

MiddleEast. Best known for her seminalbook entitledWomen and

Gender n Islam,LeilaAhmed ascontributed idely o openinghe field

andconferring epth o the western cademic iscussion f gendern the

MiddleEast, he Arabworldand Islam.Thisvolume, omprising per-

sonalmemoir,s a further ontributiono that ield,whileat thesame ime

annexing ew ntellectualpace ormulticulturalroductions.t is a post-

colonialmemoirunfolding he constructs f Ahmed'smulti-aspectual

identity,weddedbeautifullyo an exploration f the historical, olitical

and ntellectualircumstancesandchanges)n which hematured.

In a marvellousugueof spirallingmemories, eilaAhmed onducts s

through symphonic econstructionf the developmentf her identity

andconsciousness,ookingbackon herchildhoodn thegardens f privi-

lege n the thenwell-to-domulticulturalndreligiously luralistCairene

suburb f 'AinShams.Herrecollectionf the changesn thatgarden nd

the surroundingeighbourhoodver he course f her ifetimemarkand

measurehe amazing ocialand economic ransformationf Cairoas a

city,as wellas thepersonalortunes f her amily rom he 1940s hrough

the revolution ndNasser's ndSadat's egimes.

156

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