1. TURNING SOCIETY INTO A WAR CAMP:
OPPRESSIVE TRADITIONS IN
BADRIYYA AL-BISHR’S
HIND WA-L-’ASKAR (HIND AND THE
SOLDIERS)
Written by:
Rafal Jokhdar
Supervised by:
Dr. Sanna Dhahir
Fall 2015

2. Content Outline
• Introduction
• Badriyya Al-Bishr
• Purpose of the Research
• Thesis
• Theoretical Approach
• Chapter 1: Mother-Daughter Relationships

3. • Chapter 2: Male-Female Relationships
• Chapter 3: Women and the Wider Community
• Conclusion
• Sources Consulted

4. INTRODUCTION

5. Badriyya Al-Bishr
• Writer and novelist
• Taught in Al Jazeera
University
• Best newspaper
column
• TV host

6. Hind and
the
Soldiers

7. Purpose
Attract attention to and further research in Saudi
literature
Offer insider images of Saudi Society
Dispel stereotypes about Saudi life

8. Thesis
Impact of strict adherence to tradition
Individuals/institutions posing as Soldiers
In Badriyya al-Bishr’s view, strict adherence to traditional values
has lent rigidity to Saudi Life turning it into something that
resembles a war camp, which follows rules without questioning.
The “soldiers” of the title function as a metaphor for the human
forces that set out to oppose the aspirations of all those who want
to lead a freer and more flexible existence.

9. Theoretical Approach
• Feminist ideas (discussion resting on the belief that
women in Saudi Arabia should be able to have their basic
rights).
• Jungian Archetypal Theories (analyses gaining from Jung
and Neumann’s theories on women, especially the Mother
Figure)

10. Introductory
Tradition
Feminism & Islamic Feminism
Hind

11. CHAPTER 1:
MOTHER-DAUGHTER
RELATIONSHIPS

12. The Great Mother Archetype
Heila
Critical of the younger generation
Practicing gender discrimination
Strictly adhering to tradition
Ammousha
Traditional but mentally progressive
Supportive and understanding
Benign and healing

13. CHAPTER 2:
MALE-FEMALE
RELATIONSHIPS

14. Man-Wife Relationships
Traditionally formed, expected, and fulfilled
Othman & Heila
o Barren union
o Fulfilling set roles
Mansur & Hind
o Belittling
o Reflecting the idea of “Self and Other”

15. Brother-Sister Relationships
Ibrahim
Strict, violent and oppressive
Follows predetermined expectations and duties
Fahad
Fleeing prefigured expectations and traditions

16. CHAPTER 3:
WOMEN AND THE WIDER
COMMUNITY

17. Large-Scale Enforcements
• At different turns and blocks in a woman’s existence
Birth
Puberty and marriage
Taboos and love
Decrease in value
• The Hay’a
Extremism
Restriction of free choice

18. • Young Conformists
• Juhayr’s self-entitled role
• Repression consequence
• Mashael
• Guardians
And Yet:
• Progressive characters
• Shaza
• Waleed

19. RESEARCH SOURCES

20. • Badriyya Al-Bishr interview: "Anything You Write About Is
Made A Scandal, Even Love" by Christoph Dreyer.
• "Turning Oppression into Challenges: Women in Badriyya
l-Bišr’s Hind wa-l-ʿaskar ." by Sanna Dhahir
• "Brother/Sister relationships: Connectivity, Love, and
Power in the Reproduction of Patriarchy in Lebanon.” by
Suad Joseph

21. • "Islamic Feminism” by Miriam Cooke.
• "The Great Mother and the Terrible Mother: mimesis,
alterity and attachment in adolescence.” by Marica
Rytovaara

22. Dhahir, Sanna. "Turning Oppression into Challenges: Women in Badriyya l-
Bišr’s Hind wa-l-ʿaskar ." Arabica 61 (2014): 86-87.
Al-Bishr, Badriyya. Al-Bishr Speaks to Effat Students Sanna Dhahir. 27 March
2013.
—. Hind wa-l-'askar. Beirut: Al-Saqi, 2006.
Al-Bishr, Badriya. "Anything You Write About Is Made A Scandal, Even Love"
Christoph Dreyer. Ed. Lewis Gropp. Qantara.de, 20 May 2011.
Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. 2 vols. Gallimard, 1949.
Cooke, Miriam. "Islamic Feminism." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed.
Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 817-
820.
Gianoulis, Tina. "Feminism." St. James Ecyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed.
Thomas Riggs. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James Press, 2013. 293-297.

23. Joseph, Suad. "Brother/Sister relationships: Connectivity, Love, and Power in the Reproduction
of Patriarchy in Lebanon." American Ethnologist 21.1 (1994): 50-73.
Neumann, Erich. The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype. Trans. Ralph Manheim. New
Jersy : Princeton University Press, 1955.
Noormuhammad, Siddiq. Great Muslim Women: Companions of Prophet Muhammad.
November 2003. Iqra Islamic Publications. 2 November 2015
<http://www.iqra.net/articles/muslims/great_women.php>.
Musil, Alois. The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins. New York: American
Geographical Society, 1928.
Makama, Godiya Allanana. "Patriarchy and gender inequality in Nigeria: the way forward."
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Punyanunt-Carter, Narissa Maria. "father-Daughter Relationships: Examining Family
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Research Reports 25.1 (2008): 23-26.
Schiner, Jacques. "The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype by Erich Neumann."
College Art Journal 16.1 (1956): 78-80.
Rytovaara, Marica. "The Great Mother and the Terrible Mother: mimesis, alterity and
attachment in adolescence." Journal of Analytical Psychology 59.2 (2014): 211-228.
Rich, Adrienne. Of Women Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. New York: W.W
Norton & Co., 1976.