Mehta (French and Francophone studies, Mills College, Oakland, California) portrays Arab Muslim women writers as agents of feminist action and social change through their critique of the
patriarchal authority of politicians dictators, colonialists, and neo-colonial middlemen; their call for a more secular nationalist sensibility; their use of hybridized diasporic space as a
source of creative inspiration; and their identification with pre-Islamic feminine role models. Memory, she says, becomes the guiding force behind their literary and artistic creations.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
