The Scent of Jasmine: Coming of Age in Jerusalem and Damascus

by Anan Ameri

Overview

JOURNEY TO A WORLD LITTLE KNOWN TO WESTERN READERS. Born to a Syrian mother and a Palestinian father in 1944, Anan Ameri’s refreshing memoir, The Scent of Jasmine, offers a funny, spirited, unique self-portrait of her childhood, adolescence and passage to adulthood as a young woman in the Arab world. A collection of twenty-three vignettes, Anan’s search for the familiar fragrance of jasmine blossoms leads her to reimagine the puzzle pieces of her early life. While these stories—creative nonfictions—reverberate with the impact of enormous political upheavals and conflicts, The Scent of Jasmine demonstrates how the intricate bonds of family, community and place can nourish in us the creative capacity together to reimagine and repair our world

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566560016
Publisher:	Interlink Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/06/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Author, educator and activist Anan Ameri for over four decades has advocated for immigrant voices and their rightful place in the US. She is the founding director of the Palestine Aid Society of America and the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Part I

1 And They Never Lived Happily Ever After 15

2 Early Lessons of Separation 21

3 It's a Boy, It's a Boy-Thank God It's a Boy! 29

4 My Lamb 37

5 Family Reunions 43

Part II

6 Damascus Nights 51

7 Hammam Day 65

8 Here Comes the Eid 71

9 Eid Celebration 79

10 Home Remedies 85

Part III

11 The Baghdad Pact 93

12 My Magic Box 101

13 Lateefeyeh 111

14 Kennedy in Beirut 127

15 The Wonderful Sixties 137

16 Lint Job, First Love 143

17 Es Samu Village 149

18 Amneh 157

19 A Shirt and a Tie 165

20 More Trouble on the Way 171

Part IV

21 You're Either With Us or Against Us 183

22 My Father from Jaffa 191

23 My Jerusalem 195

Glossary 199

Notes 202

Acknowledgments 206

About the Author 208

Editorial Reviews

"Ameri recollects her life story from her earliest memories of living in Palestine before the Nakba (disaster) in 1948 to repeatedly traveling from Jordan to Syria amid the fluctuating tides of war, protest, and political upheaval. Ameri's story is that of relative privilege, as her father was a Jordanian government official and her mother came from an upper-class family who owned and operated a print shop. Prosperity, however, does not shield this family from the all-too-familiar violence of war and bloody territorial disputes. Her family life, by contrast, is not unlike any other, as her parents focus on trying to provide a peaceful place for raising their daughters and sons so that one day they can attend college and then graduate school. Filled with relatable stories about her fascination with modern technology, teen-idol-like admiration of Egyptian president Nasser, and anger toward religious intolerance at Western-run universities, this timely memoir should be shelved among other grand life stories lived amid war and turmoil. Ameri's strong and courageous voice gives this chronicle special significance as the world contends with a growing surge of conflicts and refugees."

From the Publisher

"Ameri recollects her life story from her earliest memories of living in Palestine before the Nakba (disaster) in 1948 to repeatedly traveling from Jordan to Syria amid the fluctuating tides of war, protest, and political upheaval. Ameri's story is that of relative privilege, as her father was a Jordanian government official and her mother came from an upper-class family who owned and operated a print shop. Prosperity, however, does not shield this family from the all-too-familiar violence of war and bloody territorial disputes. Her family life, by contrast, is not unlike any other, as her parents focus on trying to provide a peaceful place for raising their daughters and sons so that one day they can attend college and then graduate school. Filled with relatable stories about her fascination with modern technology, teen-idol-like admiration of Egyptian president Nasser, and anger toward religious intolerance at Western-run universities, this timely memoir should be shelved among other grand life stories lived amid war and turmoil. Ameri's strong and courageous voice gives this chronicle special significance as the world contends with a growing surge of conflicts and refugees."

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