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Art of Arab American Liturature Final

I chose to make Knafeh a desert which as far as I know originates from countries such as Palestine and Lebanon. I chose this dish more so because it was a dessert and also because of the component of the cheese. The ingredients I used were kataifi (shredded phyllo dough), Akkawi cheese (a soft, salty white cheese), unsalted butter, sugar, lemon juice, rose water, and crushed pistachios. I bought most of them from a Middle Eastern grocery store, particularly the kataifi and Akkawi cheese, which are not widely available in regular supermarkets. Kataifi originated from the Ottoman Empire and is used across many Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. The Akkawi cheese comes from Acre (Akka) in modern-day Israel/Palestine.  Many of these ingredients, such as rose water and pistachios, reflect centuries of trade and cultural diffusion through the Silk Road, colonialism, and the Ottoman period. It was difficult to find the right cheese to use for this dish so I resorted to Armenian cheese fr...
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Art of Arab American Literature 8

      Home to Amani is a growing idea rooted in heritage and defiance. She was born to a Palestinian family in diaspora and raised in the United States, living between two worlds. Amani attempts to fit into American culture, distancing herself from her heritage, but eventually comes to be drawn to the culture and struggle of her people. Her return to the Middle East during college reflects a deep longing for belonging and connection. Amani’s journey illustrates how home can be both a physical place and an emotional anchor—a space between memory and aspiration. For her, home is less about geography and more about identity.      Gabe, raised in a multicultural, diasporic environment, embodies the tension between inherited displacement and a desire for rootedness. As a son of a Palestinian-American mother, his concept of home is less experiential and more narrative. Gabe's search for home is one of the inside; he struggles with being without the clear cul...
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The Art of Arab-American literature Blog 7

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  Etaf Rum provides a tragic yet insightful tale in her book “A woman is no man”  She highly focuses on the role of women Etaf Rum provides a devastating but eye-opening narrative in her novel A Woman Is No Man, weaving her life experiences into a gripping tale that unfolds to show the silencing of women in traditional societies. While the book is fictional, Rum has openly admitted that much of it is based on her own life. This adds a chilling weight to the story—particularly the murder of Isra, the main character, at the hands of her husband. Not only is her murder a personal tragedy; it is emblematic of the violent consequences of being silenced in a world where women are supposed to submit and be quiet. Rum's decision to end the novel on such a tragic note reflects the devastating truth that not all women survive these oppressive systems. It's a shocking reminder that silence, fear, and shame can kill. Rather than offering a neatly wrapped-up ending, Rum forces readers to w...
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Blog 5 Art of Arab-American Literature

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  Brett Underwood  Professor Esa  4/9/2025  Arab-American Literature  When Andrea Shelal-Esa writes, ". food is such a great human connector, it's so intimate. Let the food be a metaphor for their experiences," she speaks to the deep power of food in human culture, particularly when it is employed as a vehicle for storytelling and identity creation. This is borne out in her writing, which often puts food center stage as something greater than just a source of sustenance. It becomes a powerful vehicle to express emotions, memories, and experiences beyond words. Food has an extraordinary ability to transcend words and communicate complex emotions. Food can be a history, culture, and journey personal to each person. In Andrea Shelal-Esa's writing, food is utilized as a metaphor that represents the people's experience, especially that of Arab women, who bring recipes but more importantly the essence of their culture along with them. When these women immigrate to the...
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The Art of Arab-American Literature Week 8

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       Randa Jarrar’s novel A map of home is quite a well put together story and overall book in the genre of those that deal with coming of age. We see Nidalee live a full life from her adolescence all the way to her late teenage years. The other convenient thing is that the chapters follow Nidali’s life chapter by chapter so each year of her life takes up about one chapter each.  This provides a much more comprehensive read that many novels may struggle to achieve.   One of my favorite factors of this reading is how Nidali is used as the centerpiece to the story but we also get to see different characters and places age just as Nidali does in the book. This leaves a great chance to learn the history of lesser-known places such as that of Kuwait. For instance, the reader gets to learn about a lesser-known conflict outside of the Middle East between Iran and Iraq in the 1970s which ultimately can be boiled down to Iraq trying to gain regional superiori...
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Art of Arab-American literature Week 4

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    Bayoumi brings to light several issues in his writings that arab-americans were and continue to face in modern times. I also found it interesting that Bayoumi also brings up issues prevalent between different groups of Arab americans. It seems as though most communities in the United States of America. However sometimes there are different disagreements between muslim and non muslim Arab Americans. Sometimes it can be seen that these two groups are a world apart from each other since their cultures may differ in many ways. However all arab americans were subject to profiling in the United States of America especially after events such as the wars in the Middle East and 9/11.  This harassment could differ from civilians or law enforcement and other government officials. Many incidents occurred at customs offices and other official government installments such as DMVs. After 9/11 many arab-americans were subject to speculation regarding their daily whereabouts and origi...
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Art of Arab American Literature week 3

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    For the third week of Arab-American literature, we read some poetry and watched a film by Suheir Hammad called Salt of This Sea. Originally I felt a better connection to the poems by Suheir Hammad after I learned of her rap oriented background while she grew up in Brooklyn New York. Rap is my favorite genre of music and seems to have the closest sound to that of a poet. Suheir Hammad’s poetry in particular reminded me of Slam poetry. I also appreciated Suheir’s lack of punctuation in her writing. When one raps a song they need to have a flow which is the cadence of an artist’s speech while reading their lyrics. Flow acts as a binding material between the beat of a song and the lyrics when it comes to rapping.  I also love Suheir's great use of profanity when she reads a poem. I feel like there is an art to swearing and some languages and speakers such as Russians take pride in their swearing abilities. I've also learned that Arabs have some of the most creative ways o...
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