Books by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
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Beyond the Hollywood fairytale romance of Amal Alameddine and George Clooney, stories of Arab, Mu... more Beyond the Hollywood fairytale romance of Amal Alameddine and George Clooney, stories of Arab, Muslim women searching for and finding love outside their own communities are scarce, so much that one begins to wonder how their men have managed to monopolize the right to a mixed romance, in a world that is growing more interconnected by the minute. Most Arab men wouldn't hesitate to publicize their "foreign affairs." Adventurous Arab women, on the other hand, when wishing to announce a similar involvement, must approach the feat in the same hesitancy that precedes coming out to one's conservative family. But one thing remains for certain: these women exist, their stories are real, and their frownedupon realities deserve a spot in the intricate collage of our shared human experiences. This book is a rare platform for women to let us in on their struggles, compromises, sacrifices, and ultimate victories in crossing borders, figurative and literal, toward love. They will paint a lively picture of their rocky paths, often clouded by ostracization and other forms of pain, reclaiming their right to choose a life partner against mountains of cultural, religious obstacles perpetuated by legislation.
Hurst Publishers, Haymarket Books, 2017
https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-impossible-revolution/
by Yassin al Haj Saleh, translat... more https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-impossible-revolution/
by Yassin al Haj Saleh, translated by I. Rida Mahmood. The intellectual voice of the Syrian revolution recounts the devastating impact of the Assads’ tyrannical rule. Foreword by Robin Yassin-Kassab.
Faraxa Publishing, 2015
https://www.faraxabooks.com/product/snow-in-amman
Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and edited by Al... more https://www.faraxabooks.com/product/snow-in-amman
Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and edited by Alexander Haddad.
Filled with deeply nuanced storytelling and vividly drawn, often heartbreaking human characters, Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories From Jordan is a rich selection of contemporary Jordanian fiction which stands in stark contrast to many of the prevailing stereotypes of Arabic culture. Outside the archaeological lens, very little is known about life in Jordan, particularly in the English-speaking world. Such lack makes it more susceptible to falling into the soup of widespread generalizations about the Middle East. The 11 stories in Snow in Amman, published in their original Arabic in Jordan and appearing in this book for the first time in English, depict a wide array of social and feminist issues through a lens at once familiar and surprising, commonplace and yet intensely different.
Articles by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Arablit.org, 2023
https://arablit.org/2023/04/24/the-red-suns-purple-moons-and-gun-carrying-mice-of-syrian-poet-daa... more https://arablit.org/2023/04/24/the-red-suns-purple-moons-and-gun-carrying-mice-of-syrian-poet-daad-haddad/
Although Da’ad Haddad published two poetry collections—Correcting Death’s Mistake and A Crumb of Bread is Enough For Me—in the 1980s, the Latakia native’s literary influence and renown were to be posthumous, ushered in by the publication of The Tree Leaning Towards the Ground and There is Light after her passing in 1991 in Damascus, where she died at the age of 54. A full collection of her works was finally made available by the Damascus-based Dar al-Takween in 2018, prefaced by three Syrian poets: the late Bandar Abdel Hamid (d. 2020), Nazih Abu Afach, and Suzan Ali.
The Markaz Review, 2022
https://themarkaz.org/fragile-freedom-fragile-states-in-the-muslim-world/
Middle Eastern theocra... more https://themarkaz.org/fragile-freedom-fragile-states-in-the-muslim-world/
Middle Eastern theocrats and dictators love to counter allegations by pointing out the persistent aspects of injustice in the West. Acquitted racial violence, for example, when exercised or incited by state officials and public workers in the US, is a “godsend” to a Middle Eastern autocrat and his cronies. The same is true about violations of the rights of other historically marginalized groups. The old maxim about glass houses and stone throwing applies here. A more vigorous push for equality — not censorship à la Cancel Culture — can go a long way toward disarming opportunist tyrants across the globe.
The Markaz Review, 2022
https://themarkaz.org/theocracy-looms-in-anti-abortion-opinions-of-the-supreme-court/
The Markaz Review, 2021
https://themarkaz.org/tmr-weekly/on-american-democracy-and-empire-a-corrective
The next US Secre... more https://themarkaz.org/tmr-weekly/on-american-democracy-and-empire-a-corrective
The next US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prefers to think of the past four years as an “aberration and not representative of what America is and aspires to be.” However, the riot at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. and its aftermath might have exposed a deep-seated authoritarian, anti-democratic mindset among Republicans—one that predates Trump.
Book Reviews by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 2022
Women Writers, Women's Books, 2021
http://booksbywomen.org/valentine-by-george-sand-a-review/
Had it not been for picking up a copy... more http://booksbywomen.org/valentine-by-george-sand-a-review/
Had it not been for picking up a copy of Impromptu, a 1991 British-American film that highlighted the dreamy, fragile musician’s love affair with the powerful woman novelist, I might have never gotten the chance to experience the genius of her work or relish in the details of her vibrant being – her multiple love affairs, her unlawful s’habiller en homme (donning men’s clothing) and smoking in public, to name a few.
arablit.org, 2020
https://arablit.org/2020/11/03/the-flying-flesh-of-amjad-nassers-adams-kingdom/
Nasser lets the a... more https://arablit.org/2020/11/03/the-flying-flesh-of-amjad-nassers-adams-kingdom/
Nasser lets the anthropocentric triumph over the theological understanding of the world, a victory for the guilty of intellectual pride: Epicureans, Stoics, Averroists, and otherwise virtuous heathens who embark on an intellectual journey unhitched to a destination in a metaphysical world.
Translations by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
arablit.org, 2022
https://arablit.org/2022/11/03/new-fiction-by-basma-el-nsour-the-scorpion/
By Basma El-Nsour. Tr... more https://arablit.org/2022/11/03/new-fiction-by-basma-el-nsour-the-scorpion/
By Basma El-Nsour. Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and Marcia Lynx Qualey.
He squirmed a bit, feeling heavy all over, and opened his eyes. They were full of wrath, and it was with great difficulty that he raised his palm and brushed off the layers of dust that had gathered on his eyelids, struggling to move his stiff body. It wasn’t easy. When he stretched out an arm in search of...
The New Internationalist, 2014
Thesis Chapters by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Literary and narrative discourses hold an inherent correspondence between themselves and the
soci... more Literary and narrative discourses hold an inherent correspondence between themselves and the
social, economic, national, and political issues that govern the atmosphere in which they emerge,
including those concerning the war of the classes and of the sexes. Using the erotic as a
parameter, this paper analyzes three novels by three contemporary women novelists from Egypt,
Lebanon, and Syria: Nawāl el-Sa’dāwī, Ḥanān al-Shaykh, and Samar Yazbek, respectively. An
analysis of the combination of language, culture, and space can lend itself to an examination of
the relationships of power and social hierarchies that govern societies, in a fashion that follows
the Foucauldian power/knowledge social theory. Adopting the Lacanian perspective of language
as an inherently sexist utility, this paper examines the approaches found in these three novels to
the objectification of the female body; the yearning to reclaim agency; and the success – and
failure – in regaining and retaining autonomy.
Drafts by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
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Books by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
by Yassin al Haj Saleh, translated by I. Rida Mahmood. The intellectual voice of the Syrian revolution recounts the devastating impact of the Assads’ tyrannical rule. Foreword by Robin Yassin-Kassab.
Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and edited by Alexander Haddad.
Filled with deeply nuanced storytelling and vividly drawn, often heartbreaking human characters, Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories From Jordan is a rich selection of contemporary Jordanian fiction which stands in stark contrast to many of the prevailing stereotypes of Arabic culture. Outside the archaeological lens, very little is known about life in Jordan, particularly in the English-speaking world. Such lack makes it more susceptible to falling into the soup of widespread generalizations about the Middle East. The 11 stories in Snow in Amman, published in their original Arabic in Jordan and appearing in this book for the first time in English, depict a wide array of social and feminist issues through a lens at once familiar and surprising, commonplace and yet intensely different.
Articles by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Although Da’ad Haddad published two poetry collections—Correcting Death’s Mistake and A Crumb of Bread is Enough For Me—in the 1980s, the Latakia native’s literary influence and renown were to be posthumous, ushered in by the publication of The Tree Leaning Towards the Ground and There is Light after her passing in 1991 in Damascus, where she died at the age of 54. A full collection of her works was finally made available by the Damascus-based Dar al-Takween in 2018, prefaced by three Syrian poets: the late Bandar Abdel Hamid (d. 2020), Nazih Abu Afach, and Suzan Ali.
Middle Eastern theocrats and dictators love to counter allegations by pointing out the persistent aspects of injustice in the West. Acquitted racial violence, for example, when exercised or incited by state officials and public workers in the US, is a “godsend” to a Middle Eastern autocrat and his cronies. The same is true about violations of the rights of other historically marginalized groups. The old maxim about glass houses and stone throwing applies here. A more vigorous push for equality — not censorship à la Cancel Culture — can go a long way toward disarming opportunist tyrants across the globe.
Calling out the hypocrisy and double standards of conservatives who once argued that no president is above the law.
The next US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prefers to think of the past four years as an “aberration and not representative of what America is and aspires to be.” However, the riot at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. and its aftermath might have exposed a deep-seated authoritarian, anti-democratic mindset among Republicans—one that predates Trump.
Decades after the death of Syrian poet Riyad al-Saleh al-Hussein, his words remain alive among readers.
Book Reviews by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Had it not been for picking up a copy of Impromptu, a 1991 British-American film that highlighted the dreamy, fragile musician’s love affair with the powerful woman novelist, I might have never gotten the chance to experience the genius of her work or relish in the details of her vibrant being – her multiple love affairs, her unlawful s’habiller en homme (donning men’s clothing) and smoking in public, to name a few.
Nasser lets the anthropocentric triumph over the theological understanding of the world, a victory for the guilty of intellectual pride: Epicureans, Stoics, Averroists, and otherwise virtuous heathens who embark on an intellectual journey unhitched to a destination in a metaphysical world.
https://arablit.org/2018/02/22/amjad-nassers-here-is-the-rose-we-can-no-longer-tell-tragedy-from-farce/
Translations by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
By Basma El-Nsour. Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and Marcia Lynx Qualey.
He squirmed a bit, feeling heavy all over, and opened his eyes. They were full of wrath, and it was with great difficulty that he raised his palm and brushed off the layers of dust that had gathered on his eyelids, struggling to move his stiff body. It wasn’t easy. When he stretched out an arm in search of...
Interview by Rachael Daum, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
by Widad Nabi, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
By Rana Mourtaja, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
Thesis Chapters by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
social, economic, national, and political issues that govern the atmosphere in which they emerge,
including those concerning the war of the classes and of the sexes. Using the erotic as a
parameter, this paper analyzes three novels by three contemporary women novelists from Egypt,
Lebanon, and Syria: Nawāl el-Sa’dāwī, Ḥanān al-Shaykh, and Samar Yazbek, respectively. An
analysis of the combination of language, culture, and space can lend itself to an examination of
the relationships of power and social hierarchies that govern societies, in a fashion that follows
the Foucauldian power/knowledge social theory. Adopting the Lacanian perspective of language
as an inherently sexist utility, this paper examines the approaches found in these three novels to
the objectification of the female body; the yearning to reclaim agency; and the success – and
failure – in regaining and retaining autonomy.
Drafts by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
by Yassin al Haj Saleh, translated by I. Rida Mahmood. The intellectual voice of the Syrian revolution recounts the devastating impact of the Assads’ tyrannical rule. Foreword by Robin Yassin-Kassab.
Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and edited by Alexander Haddad.
Filled with deeply nuanced storytelling and vividly drawn, often heartbreaking human characters, Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories From Jordan is a rich selection of contemporary Jordanian fiction which stands in stark contrast to many of the prevailing stereotypes of Arabic culture. Outside the archaeological lens, very little is known about life in Jordan, particularly in the English-speaking world. Such lack makes it more susceptible to falling into the soup of widespread generalizations about the Middle East. The 11 stories in Snow in Amman, published in their original Arabic in Jordan and appearing in this book for the first time in English, depict a wide array of social and feminist issues through a lens at once familiar and surprising, commonplace and yet intensely different.
Although Da’ad Haddad published two poetry collections—Correcting Death’s Mistake and A Crumb of Bread is Enough For Me—in the 1980s, the Latakia native’s literary influence and renown were to be posthumous, ushered in by the publication of The Tree Leaning Towards the Ground and There is Light after her passing in 1991 in Damascus, where she died at the age of 54. A full collection of her works was finally made available by the Damascus-based Dar al-Takween in 2018, prefaced by three Syrian poets: the late Bandar Abdel Hamid (d. 2020), Nazih Abu Afach, and Suzan Ali.
Middle Eastern theocrats and dictators love to counter allegations by pointing out the persistent aspects of injustice in the West. Acquitted racial violence, for example, when exercised or incited by state officials and public workers in the US, is a “godsend” to a Middle Eastern autocrat and his cronies. The same is true about violations of the rights of other historically marginalized groups. The old maxim about glass houses and stone throwing applies here. A more vigorous push for equality — not censorship à la Cancel Culture — can go a long way toward disarming opportunist tyrants across the globe.
Calling out the hypocrisy and double standards of conservatives who once argued that no president is above the law.
The next US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prefers to think of the past four years as an “aberration and not representative of what America is and aspires to be.” However, the riot at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. and its aftermath might have exposed a deep-seated authoritarian, anti-democratic mindset among Republicans—one that predates Trump.
Decades after the death of Syrian poet Riyad al-Saleh al-Hussein, his words remain alive among readers.
Had it not been for picking up a copy of Impromptu, a 1991 British-American film that highlighted the dreamy, fragile musician’s love affair with the powerful woman novelist, I might have never gotten the chance to experience the genius of her work or relish in the details of her vibrant being – her multiple love affairs, her unlawful s’habiller en homme (donning men’s clothing) and smoking in public, to name a few.
Nasser lets the anthropocentric triumph over the theological understanding of the world, a victory for the guilty of intellectual pride: Epicureans, Stoics, Averroists, and otherwise virtuous heathens who embark on an intellectual journey unhitched to a destination in a metaphysical world.
https://arablit.org/2018/02/22/amjad-nassers-here-is-the-rose-we-can-no-longer-tell-tragedy-from-farce/
By Basma El-Nsour. Translated by I. Rida Mahmood and Marcia Lynx Qualey.
He squirmed a bit, feeling heavy all over, and opened his eyes. They were full of wrath, and it was with great difficulty that he raised his palm and brushed off the layers of dust that had gathered on his eyelids, struggling to move his stiff body. It wasn’t easy. When he stretched out an arm in search of...
Interview by Rachael Daum, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
by Widad Nabi, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
By Rana Mourtaja, translated by I. Rida Mahmood
social, economic, national, and political issues that govern the atmosphere in which they emerge,
including those concerning the war of the classes and of the sexes. Using the erotic as a
parameter, this paper analyzes three novels by three contemporary women novelists from Egypt,
Lebanon, and Syria: Nawāl el-Sa’dāwī, Ḥanān al-Shaykh, and Samar Yazbek, respectively. An
analysis of the combination of language, culture, and space can lend itself to an examination of
the relationships of power and social hierarchies that govern societies, in a fashion that follows
the Foucauldian power/knowledge social theory. Adopting the Lacanian perspective of language
as an inherently sexist utility, this paper examines the approaches found in these three novels to
the objectification of the female body; the yearning to reclaim agency; and the success – and
failure – in regaining and retaining autonomy.