Mohja kahf biography graphic organizer

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in Damascus, Syria; immigrated to United States, 1971; married Najib Ghadbian; children: three. Ethnicity: "Arab-American." Education: Rutgers University, B.A. (with honors), 1988, Ph.D., 1994. Religion: Muslim.

ADDRESSES:

Office—English Department, Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences, 333 Kimpel Hall, University interrupt Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Rutgers Institution of higher education, New Brunswick, NJ, instructor, 1994-95; Formation of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, assistant head of faculty, 1995-2000, associate professor of comparative information, 2001—.

MEMBER:

Ozark Poets & Writers Collective, Scale of Arab-American Writers, Association of Inside East Women's Studies, Syrian Studies Trellis, Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Omega National Political Science Honor Society, Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for Worldwide Scholars.

AWARDS, HONORS:

First-place award, New Jersey Guild of Technology, 1983, for best academy poetry in New Jersey; Garden Set down fellowship, 1988-92; Arkansas Arts Council Dispersed Artists Fellowship, 2002; finalist, Paterson Fictitious Prize, 2004, for E-mails from Scheherazad.

WRITINGS:

Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: Steer clear of Termagant to Odalisque, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1999.

E-mails from Scheherazad (poetry), University of Florida Press (Gainesville, FL), 2003.

The Girl in the Mandarin Scarf: A Novel, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of ezines to books and anthologies, including Radius of Arab American Writers Anthology, RAWI, 1999; The Space between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Order East, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998; and Windows of Faith: Muhammadan Women's Scholarship and Activism, edited bypass Gisela Webb, Syracuse University Press (Syracuse, NY), 2000. Contributor of poetry drop in journals, including Paris Review, Exquisite Corpse, and Atlanta Review. Contributor to periodicals, including Arab Studies Quarterly, Washington Stake, Banipal, Cyphers Literary Journal, and World Literature Today. Contributor of short folklore and creative nonfiction to the Tangle site Muslim WakeUp!

SIDELIGHTS:

In her first paperback, Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque, Mohja Kahf examines the changing representation of Islamic women in literature. She takes examples from medieval chansons, Renaissance drama, Nirvana prose, and romantic poetry of ethics early nineteenth century. She shows goodness changing images of Muslim women budget relationship to Western interactions with position Islamic world. Rachel Simon in MELA Notes Book Reviews commented, "This seamless adds an important dimension to honesty study of Western attitudes towards rectitude Muslim world."

In 2003 Kahf published uncluttered collection of poetry titled E-mails carry too far Scheherazad. In a Booklist review censure this work, Donna Seaman described Kahf as "whimsical, colloquial and disarmingly witty," calling some of her poems "brilliantly wry and utterly irresistible."

Kahf draws weightily laboriously on her own immigrant experience appoint The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf: A Novel. The book tells rank story of Khadra Shamy, a leafy Syrian girl who moves to well-organized small American town with her cover as a young child. Raised place in a devout Muslim household, Khadra kisser racism and bigotry from her neighbors and schoolmates. However, the author further criticizes Khadra's family for their derisory brand of racism and for leadership expectations they put on the teenager. Intent on finding her own structure, Khardra goes back to Syria earlier finally returning to the United States with a more complete sense late who she really is and wants to be. While a Publishers Weekly reviewer found Khadra a "compelling protagonist," the reviewer added that Khaf's criticisms of religion and society are "heavy-handed." Neil MacFarquhar, on the other pep talk, observed in a New York Times feature that Kahf "draws sharp, ridiculous, earthy portraits of the fault zip up separating Muslim women from their Exaggeration counterparts." The Girl in the Mandarin Scarf, MacFarquhar added, "turned Ms. Kahf into something of an idol amid Muslim American women."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2003, Donna Seaman, dialogue of E-mails from Scheherazad, p. 1141.

Choice, January, 2000, A. Mahdi, review have a high opinion of Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque, p. 992.

New York Times, May 12, 2007, Neil MacFarquhar, "She Carries Weapons; They Ring Called Words."

Publishers Weekly, August 14, 2006, review of The Girl in justness Tangerine Scarf: A Novel, p. 180.

ONLINE

ArteEast, (October 17, 2007), Lisa Suhair Majaj, "‘Supplies of Grace’: The Poetry criticize Mohja Kahf," review of E-mails break Scheherazad.

MELA Notes Book Reviews, (October 23, 2001), Rachel Simon, review of Western Representations of the Muslim Woman.

Muslim Women's League Newsletter, (August 30, 2007).

, (July 30, 2007), Sara Harrison, interview attain Mohja Kahf.

University of Arkansas Web site, (July 30, 2007), Mohja Kahf influence page.

WebIslam, (July 30, 2007), Bettina Lehovec, review of The Girl in ethics Tangerine Scarf.