Abstract:
In the following critique El-Hussari discusses three of Ghassan Kanafani’s books: Rijal fil-Shams (Men
in the Sun), Ma tabaqqa la-Kum (All That’s Left to You), and Umm Sa’ad. Kanafani. As a Palestinian
refugee himself, Kanafani has fathered a genre of literature known as ‘Resistance Literature’. His
literary works have continued to have a reverberating influence on the political and social discourse
of Palestinian refugees throughout the Arab world. Though he does not focus specifically on gender
issues, his analysis of Palestinian nationalism highlights the complex social and political context in
which refugee women exist. El-Hussari’s critique of Kanafani’s novels focuses on the transformation
of the female characters in their shift from passivity to political and social awareness and engagement.
In so doing, El-Hussari suggests that Kanafani’s female characters represent the Palestinian refugee
population in their political and social struggle to regain a voice and an ownership of destiny. Though
the Palestinian refugee situation is unique, Kanafani’s focus on the Palestinian refugees struggle with
engagement and activism resonates with other refugee communities in the Arab world. El-Hussari draws
attention to the issue of refugee women who not only face discrimination as refugees but who also
struggle with the gendered tension between voicelessness and engagement within the home and in the
broader Arab society.
