Teaching Arabs, Writing Self: Memoirs of an Arab-American Woman

140 Pages·2013·1.94 MB·English

by  Evelyn Shakir

Teaching Arabs, Writing Self

First published in 2014 by
OLIVE BRANCH PRESS
An imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.
46 Crosby Street, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
www.interlinkbooks.com Copyright © The Estate of Evelyn Shakir, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical
means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shakir, Evelyn, 1938-
Teaching Arabs, writing self : memoirs of an American woman / by Evelyn Shakir.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-56656-924-8
1. Shakir, Evelyn, 1938-2. Shakir, Evelyn, 1938---Travel--Middle East. 3. English teachers--Middle East--
Biography. 4. Lebanese American women--Massachusetts--Biography. 5. Lebanese Americans--Massachusetts--
Biography. I. Title.
PE64.S43A3 2013
818'.603--dc23
[B]
2013023656
General Editor: Michel Moushabeck
Copyeditor: Kitty Florey
Proofreader: Jennifer M. Staltare
Cover and book design: Pam Fontes-May Printed and bound in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
1
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To
My father, Wadie
My mother, Hannah
My brother, Philip
Iconoclasts all

Contents
Preface
Childhood
At Home and Away: Thirteen Takes on Growing Up Arab in
America
Mother
Revere Beach
Teaching Abroad
A Fulbright in Lebanon
Teaching Arab-American Literature in Bahrain
A Fullbright in Damascus
Think Again
Cancer
Why I Write
Preface
In recent years, I have taught American literature to university students in three
Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, and the archipelago kingdom of Bahrain. In
Damascus a man asked me how I liked my students. “Very much,” I said. “I learn
from them every day.”
He shook his head in protest. “The eye,” he said, calling on an Arab proverb,
“does not sit above the eyebrow.”
Despite his gallantry, he was, of course, mistaken. I did learn—how could I
not?—from my students as well as from other Syrians, whether friends,
shopkeepers, or cabbies. In Lebanon and Bahrain, it was the same.
This two-way street, my teaching others, their teaching me, is reflected in the
title of my book. Just as “hanging judges” hang and “kissing cousins” kiss,
“teaching Arabs” may teach; think of those pictures where, if you stare at them
long enough, foreground and background swap around. The second half of the
title performs a similar do-si-do: “self” both the writer and the written about.
And, of course, “self” and “Arab” have been brought under a single roof for a
reason. Cohabitation implies intimate connection.
Because what took me to Arab lands, initially, was a belated desire to connect
with my own heritage. As a child of immigrants from Lebanon, I had tried to
run from it. My goal was to be “American,” and to expunge in myself every trace
of foreignness. In those days before we’d wrapped our tongues around
“multiculturalism” and “diversity,” our teachers, the news media, politicians, and
pop culture all conspired to promote ethnic amnesia and urge assimilation. I was
a good student; I bought it all. If there was a flaw in their definition of
“American,” I couldn’t see it. I think the closest I came to suspecting something
was amiss was when I would mention the name of one classmate or another to
my parents. “Oh,” they would say—like pulling a rabbit out of a hat—“he’s
Italian” or “she’s Irish” or “he’s Greek.” I began to wonder: “So who are the
Americans and where are they hanging out?” It took years before I could say, with
Pogo-like certainty, “I have met the Americans and they are us.”
Given that personal history, it has made sense to me to divide this book into
three sections: one that reflects on my early attempts to sort out my identity (and
related family matters); one that explores my teaching abroad; and, finally, one
that looks inward again but at a different hour and under a different sky.
I
Childhood

Evelyn’s graduation from Wellesley College

At Home and Away:
Thirteen Takes on Growing Up Arab in America
1
It’s my experience that Arabs and psychiatrists are natural enemies. One says,
“Family first.” The other says, “Only neurotics call home every day.” Another