Jean Said Makdisi (born 1940) is a Palestinian writer and independent scholar, best known for her autobiographical writing.

Life

Jean Said Makdisi was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

to a Palestinian family. The younger sister of

Rosemarie Said Zahlan Rosemarie Said Zahlan ( ar, روزماري سعيد زحلان, Rawzimārī Saʿīd Zaḥlān) (August 20, 1937 - May 10, 2006) was a Palestinian-American Christian historian and writer on the Arab states of Persian Gulf. She was a sister of Edwar ...

and

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''White ...

, she was raised in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and educated in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She married a Lebanese academic, Samir Makdisi. They lived in America before moving to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in 1972, where she taught English and Humanities at the

Beirut University College The Lebanese American University (LAU) ( ar, الجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية) is a secular and private American university located in Lebanon. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New Y ...

.Jean Said Makdisi
''The Knowledge Workshop'', alwarsha.org. They remained in Beirut throughout the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

and the 1982 Israeli invasion. Makdisi documented the city's decline in her first book, ''Beirut Fragments: a war memoir'' (1989): In ''Teta, mother, and me'' (2005) Makdisi brought alive a century of Arab life though the story of three generations of Arab women: herself, her mother, Hilda Musa Said, and her grandmother, Munira Badr Musa. Her son is the literary critic

Saree Makdisi Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic and professor; specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature. He is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. M ...

Works

* ''Beirut fragments: a war memoir''. New York: Persea Books, 1989 * ''Teta, mother, and me: an Arab woman's memoir''. London : Saqi, 2005 * (ed. with Martin Asser) ''My life in the PLO: the inside story of the Palestinian struggle'' by

Shafiq al-Hout Shafiq, Shafik, Shafeeq, Shafique, Shafic, Chafic or Shafeek (Arabic: شفيق, Urdu: شفیق, Romanized: Shafīq) may refer to *Shafiq (name) *Shafiq Mill Colony, a neighbourhood of Gulberg Town in Karachi, Pakistan *''Charles Shafiq Karthiga ...

. Translated by Hader al-Hout and Laila Othman. London: Pluto Press, 2010 * (ed. with Noha Bayoumi and Rafif Rida Sidawi) ''Arab feminisms: gender and equality in the Middle East''. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013

References

1940 births Living people Palestinian writers Palestinian women writers People from Jerusalem Lebanese American University faculty Palestinian expatriates in Egypt Palestinian expatriates in the United States Palestinian expatriates in the United Kingdom Palestinian expatriates in Lebanon {{Palestine-writer-stub