Three Mothers, Three Daughters: Palestinian Women's Stories

by Michael Gorkin

Overview

A collaboration between an Israeli psychologist and a Palestinian school teacher.

This highly original book recounts the surprisingly candid stories of three Palestinian mothers and their daughters. Beautifully told and sensitively edited, these linked narratives bear witness to their experiences of Israeli occupation, their memories of the wars of 1948 and 1967, and the profound changes that have occurred in their political and personal lives.

"The complexity of the women's lives and stories and the ways in which they portray themselves in the book make this work of value to anthropologists, as well as to scholars in women's studies, oral history, Middle East studies, and sociology."
-Journal of Palestine Studies

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781892746450
Publisher:	Other Press, LLC
Publication date:	01/17/2000
Series:	Cultural Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Michael Gorkin is a clinical psychologist and author of Days of Honey, Days of Onion (1993). His most recent book is From Grandmother to Granddaughter: Salvadoran Women's Stories (2000), with Marta Pineda and Gloria Leal.

Editorial Reviews

Gorkin (Days of Honey, Days of Onion, Univ. of California, 1993), a Jewish American psychologist living in Israel, and Othman, a Palestinian special education teacher, have teamed up to capture, through numerous interviews with women of different generations, candid and valuable accounts of the ways Palestinian Arab women see themselves and their roles relative to a changing yet still conservative society. The authors chose three mother- daughter couples from geographically diverse areas: a refugee camp on the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and an Israeli Arab village. Through these oral narratives, the reader come to see generational changes at play especially in the areas of education, choice of spouse and marriage, and employment. These women tell their stories in the first person in a spontaneous, vividly narrative that is not low on emotions and nostalgia. This book serves as a starting point for the understanding of an often-forgotten element in political and historical accounts of a tumultuous Middle East. Suitable for academic and women's studies collections.Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.

Library Journal

YA-Interviews with six women from three different Palestinian Moslem communities in the Middle East. Gorkin, a Jewish American, collaborated with Othman, a Palestinian special-education teacher, in securing consent and conducting interviews with the women, who live in East Jerusalem, the village of Abu Ghosh in Israel, and the refugee camp of Aida in the West Bank. Gorkin and Othman narrowed their selection to include only Moslem women. The first-person narratives include a variety of topics and present informative insights into the life of the older generation as well as that of the current generation. Major changes in attitudes toward education, marriage, and employment are obvious in these oral histories. Views on courtship, the family, politics, religion, and daily life can also be gleaned. In schools where there is a Middle Eastern Studies curriculum, this book will be a valuable asset. In high schools where there is a significant Arab community, it is a necessity.-Dottie Kraft, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

School Library Journal