A Modern Arab in England
Mona does not look or act the way anyone expects, and so she challenges her audience to see her in her unpredictability.
A Modern Arab in England
Rarely do we hear that the reason people migrate is “just ‘cause.” The forces that push them to move to a new location, or in recent cases, oblige them to find one, are mainly driven by a search for something better. I use the word ‘better’ loosely; it could be for a ‘better chance of survival,’ or ‘a better education.’
She was born in Cairo, raised in Saudi Arabia and England, and is now living between New York City and Egypt… she had me. Mona Eltahawy identified with sharp words. I wanted to know how she ended up in all those countries and if her answers were the byproduct of her identity. Turns out, yes, her trajectory lead her to become a perspective shifter, a misogyny breaker, and most, an active participant in redefining Islam.
In this article, Mona describes her experience with veiling and unveiling, a process intimately connected with her sense of her burgeoning self and the place she wanted to occupy in the world.