Interrogates the relationship between revolutionary movements and experimental life writing forms by contemporary Arab women Uniquely interrogates the interplay of power, gender, and resistance in life narratives by politically committed Arab women and explores the strategic function of non-fiction in articulating the role and position of women during crucial historial moments Offers a new understanding of Arab life writing as part of a cultural corpus of resistance literature which must be contextualised and understood within specific fields of power Brings together critically acclaimed and less familiar texts by Arab women to examine a range of experimental autobiographical modes, including online forms of self-expression Covers recent history and ongoing socio-political upheavals with a focus on regional imperatives In the context of twenty-first century Arab uprisings, women invoke the complexity of their experiences as citizens, revolutionaries, women and writers through a range of narrative strategies. Autobiographical discourses that emerge as part of national revolutionary struggles make audible Arab women's voices and experiences, foregrounding women as active social and political agents and redefining conventions of self-representation and narration. Drawing on autobiographical and postcolonial theories, Contemporary Arab Women's Life Writing and the Politics of Resistance examines contemporary Arab women's life writing as sites for the articulation of resistance to interlocking power structures and sociocultural and representational norms. Looking comparatively at subgenres of memoir, auto-portrait, testimony, diary and digital life writing across different linguistic and national contexts, this book explores why resistance is important when writing about the self for Arab women and how it is articulated through experimental formal and thematic approaches to the autobiographical genre.

About the Author
Hiyem Cheurfa is an assistant professor of postcolonial literature and comparative studies in the Department of English at Larbi Tebessi University, Algeria. She received her PhD in English from Lancaster University, UK.

Reviews
"By examining Arabophone, Francophone, and Anglophone autobiographical writings of Arab women found in various modes, including testimonials, diaries, and more recently in digital media, Cheurfa's book, well-grounded in related theories, contributes to the analysis of dissident literature showing the strong involvement of Arab women in national struggle movements and redefining the modern cultural history of the Arab world." -Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, American University of Sharjah



Book Information
ISBN 9781474489683
Author Hiyem Cheurfa
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press