Student
Reactions to the Conference
Following the "Women's Voices in the Franco-Arabic World"
conference, 16 graduate and undergraduate students were asked to record
their critical responses to the featured topics, presentations, and films.
Below is an excerpt from one of the students, Daniella Case, entitled,
"Reconstruction Identity." For additional reaction papers, click
on the respective links at the top and bottom of this page for either
a Word or PDF document containing all 16 essays.
Daniella
Case
Reconstructing Identity
In her talk entitled, Tales of Seduction: French Encounters with the Arab World, Professor Sahar Amer challenged the audience to make a list of English words relating to love. The goal of such an exercise was to compare the English list with words she gave us from Arab tradition. Many of the Arabic words lack equivalents in other languages and can only be translated with phrases such as unrequited affection and vehemence of love. Although it may be hard to believe in today's world, Arab peoples have a long tradition of openness about love and sexuality that is unrivaled by any European treatment of the subject. I decided to follow Professor Amer's suggestion and came up with the following list from Roget's Thesaurus: "sexuality, liking, affection, benevolence, accord, regards, friendship, desire, fondness." A more detailed search yielded such terms as, "infatuation, devotion, sentimentality, and passion." While there are plenty of English words that might serve as synonyms of love, few single words incorporate such specific and detailed meanings as the Arabic words. For instance, futūn means disorientation caused by seduction. Sadam means affection followed by weakening. As Professor Amer stressed in her lecture, the Arab literary tradition of writing scholarly treatises on both erotic and emotional love is largely responsible for the evolution of such a stunning variety of meaningful words related to love.
To continue reading this student's and others' reactions to the conference, click the appropriate link for either a PDF or a Word version.
