Suad Joseph at WMF for a Discussion of her book Intimate Selving in Arab Families
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The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) organized a book discussion of Suad Joseph’s Intimate Selving in Arab Families: Gender, Self, and Identity, published in 1999. The discussion was held in May 2000, and featured the book author Dr. Suad Joseph, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, USA.
During the WMF book discussion, Dr. Joseph discussed the concept of ‘self’ for Arab families in contrast with ‘self’ as conceived in Western psychology theories, and how these theories set up strict boundaries for the definition of the self, by which the self is assumed to have evolved in a progressive straight line towards individuation and autonomy. Joseph argues, however, that the notion of the self in Arab culture is continuous, extended, and relational to others.
In her book, Dr. Joseph traced the concept of self in Arab families, especially in Lebanon, for which the self is characterized by bridge-building, interconnectedness, and compassion – characteristics often feminized in academic studies and circles. Dr. Joseph also noted that these qualities are present among both men and women within the wide network of Arab family relations, thus deconstructing the binary of femininity and masculinity.
