Books in Brief

Hadha Baladuna offers a diverse collection of narratives, poetry, memoirs, and essays by contemporary Arab American writers.It presents a swathe of imaginative writers who also work in academia, journalism, songwriting, and photography, among other fields.Some were born in the US and trace their ancestry to various countries in the Middle East; others have recently emigrated from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Yemen due to the ongoing wars in their respective countries.This is an eye-opening collection by Arabs in the Detroit-Dearborn cities of Michigan, which is home to the largest community of Arab Americans in the US.Change, the question of identity, and the quest for home seem to be the major themes of almost all the writing, with Dearborn developing into a character of its own.For example, Yasmin Mohamed, who was being raised in her conservative Yemeni family, was first an obedient daughter who did the bidding of her parents and Yemeni traditions.But when she got married to a husband who turned out to be very restrictive, she opted for divorce after one year of repression.Her rejection of the patriarchal system of an unhappy marriage, however, did not take away from her devotion and gratitude to her family.She stayed close to her parents, especially to her father who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.Then, she didn't fall for the cultural taboos of many in her Arab community who were trying to shame the family.She instead understood the mental disease for what it is and continued to love and appreciate her father.She writes: "There was not a more honorable, generous, kind, and respected man than my dad" (65).Additionally, Yasmin's desire to be independent and her ambition to be an educated career woman signal her strength and determination to be free.Similarly, her awareness of being perceived as the "other" by some Americans she encountered, due to her "different" clothing, motivated her to adjust and switch her outfits to blouses, trousers, and dresses, though she kept wearing a scarf."It was not easy navigating my bicultural life."She says: "I am an American and Yemeni" (63).Adjustment to American culture figures extensively in the writing, and awareness of Islamophobia and racialization of Arabs are experienced and expressed by