Who are we if we don’t control our own narratives?
من نحن إذا لم نتحكم في سرد رواياتنا؟
Nasawiyyah: Arab Media History
Nasawiyyat (Arab feminists) have played a central role in the development of Arab media and anti-colonial nationalist consciousness. Despite this fact, little is known amongst general audiences about the rich legacy of Arab women’s contributions to Arabic mass-media culture. Nasawiyyah*: Arab Media History addresses this problem by illuminating Arab women’s revolutionary feminist ideas and media productions from the 20th century to contemporary Arabic and English-speaking internet audiences.
Nasawiyyah: Arab Media History presents exhibits featuring writings and digitized archival records around the lives and ideas of Arab women media workers from the 20th century through anti-colonial feminist perspective. We situate contemporary uses of feminist and digital media activism in a longer history.
*Nasawiyyah: Feminism in Arabic
Multimedia Exhibits
Arab Feminist Organizations
Eastern Women’s Congress for the Defense of Palestine (1938)
Arab Feminist Revolutionaries
Marie Ajami (1888-1965)
Arab Women’s Solidarity Association (1990)
Zayynab Fawaz (1860-1914)
Mayy Ziadeh (1886-1941)
This exhibit explores Mayy Ziadeh’s impact on Arabic literary culture and multilingual media, highlighting her role as a feminist who navigated Arabic and French literary spheres to advocate for Arab nationalist thought. It features digitized items from her archive held at the American University of Beirut.
This exhibit explores the pioneering feminist work of Marie Ajami and her magazine Al-Arous, highlighting its role in advocating for feminist justice and anti-colonial resistance in early 20th-century Syria. It features digitized excerpts from al-Arous magazine.
This exhibit highlights the contributions of Zaynab Fawwaz to Arabic print culture, focusing on her role as a journalist, writer, intellectual, and feminist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It features excerpts from her feminist compendium titled al-Durr al-manthur fi tabaqat rabbat al-khudur, a book offering 456 women’s profiles from history (p.1894), held at the Qatar National Library, and other articles she published in Egyptian and Syrian periodicals.
Print Archives
Feminist Magazines
Explore our entire magazines collection here.
Al-Arous Magazine (مجلة العروس) Vol. 1 Issue 1
Place of Publication: Homs, Syria
Publisher: Matba’it Jareedat Homs
Author: Marie Ajamie
Date: December, 1910
Language: Arabic
Pages: 32
Al-Fatāh (الفتاة), Vol. 12 Issue 84
Author: Nabawiya Musa
Place of Publication: Alexandria, Egypt
Date: July 1, 1950
Language: Arabic
Pages: 28
MRA Magazine Documents from and about Arab women
Place of publication: London, England.
Publisher: Funny Farm Pubs.
Date: 1974
Pages: 18
Topics: Liberation struggle in Algeria, Gulf and Palestine. Includes poetry and illustrations.
Kathima (كاظمة) Vol. 1 issue 1
Place of publication: Kuwait
Date: July, 1948
Publisher: Matba’it al-Maarif
Language: Arabic
Topics: Science, Art, Society, Poetry, Short stories, Literature
Fatat Ul-Jezirah (فناة الجزيرة) Vol. 12 issue 579
Place of publication: Aden, Yemen
Publisher: Mohammad Ali Lokman Al Muhami
Date: July 15, 1951
Pages: 24
Language: Arabic
Topics: Politics and culture in Yemen and the region. Discusses women’s participation in politics.
Noor magazine, Issue 13
The Palestinian woman: fifty years struggling against the occupation
Place of publication: Cairo, Egypt
Publisher: Dar al-Mara’a al-Arabyya lilabhath wa al-nashr
Date: 1999
Language: Arabic
Topics: Deir Yassin, Haifa the Arab city, women’s resistance, bibliography of Palestinian women writers.
Conferences and Reports
The Arab Woman and the Case of Palestine
Eastern Women’s Conference held in Cairo, Egypt, on 15-18 October 1938
Date: 1938
Language: Arabic
Topics: Speeches from Huda Shaarawi, Mateel Mughannam, Sathij Nassar, and many more.
The Facts about the Palestine Problem, Vol. 2 Issue 1
Place of Publication: Beirut, Lebanon
Bulletin produced by The Arab Women’s Information Committee
Date: January, 1968
Pages: 13
Topics: Arab resistance, attack on Beirut Airport, Israeli motives.
The Facts about the Palestine Problem, Vol. 2 Issue 2
Place of Publication: Beirut, Lebanon
Bulletin produced by The Arab Women’s Information Committee
Date: February, 1969
Pages: 8
Topics: Letter by Palestinian refugee, women fighters. Zionist hypocrisy.
Women of the Arab World: The Coming Challenge
1st Arab Women Solidarity Association Conference held in Cairo, Egypt, on 1-3 September 1986
Place of Publication: London, England
Date: 1988
Topics: Political challenges facing Arab women, women’s movement and issues, Palestinian women
Contemporary Arab Thought and Women
2nd Arab Women Solidarity Association Conference held in Cairo, Egypt, on 3-5 November 1988
Date: 1988
Topics: Feminist movements in Italy, women’s status in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, strategies for women in the Arab world.
Women’s Press and Publications in the Arab World
3rd Arab Women Solidarity Association Conference held in Cairo, Egypt, on 4-7 September 1990
Date: 1990
Topics: Feminist journalism in the Arab world, women’s books and magazines, women’s struggles in media.
Books
Explore our entire library collection here.
Poet’s Tales: Nazik Al Malaeka ( صفحات من حياة نازك الملائكة)
Lebanese Women and Weaponized Disputes (بلا منازع أو النساء اللبنانيات والنزاعات المسلحة)
Resistance Media in the Arab World (إعلام المقاومة في الوطن العربي)
Palestinian Women's Political Roles in the 1930s (أدوار المرأة الفلسطينية في الثلاثينيات)