Fatima Amrani
Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Dhar Mehraz, Fes, Morocco
Host: Women’s Studies Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Discipline: Gender and Islamic Studies
Faculty Associate: Josephine A. Beoku-Betts
October 9 – November 17, 2006

This exposure to different classes and levels of students allowed me not only to meet my grant objectives, but also to interact with and become aware of the amazing diversity of American students in Florida. I was stunned by the multicultural diversity of those students who belonged to different ethnic groups, different cultures, different languages and different religions. The success of my mission was partly due to their diversity which enabled them to accept me with my differences and even to admire and respect it.

My pride remains with the Faculty Curriculum Development Seminar that I had held with all the university colleagues who asked me to devise a syllabus that helped them integrate the study of Muslim women and Islamic culture in the women’s studies curriculum. My great fear was during my first public lecture about gender equity in Islam in the church. I was unsure of how the public would react, and was deeply touched when everybody stood up at the end of my lecture and applauded for a long time. To my surprise, the majority of the audience remained after the discussion to congratulate me. There were some who invited me to their homes, others who exchanged e-mails with me. Even though the lecture ended at 7:30 p.m. and I was fasting for Ramadan, as the majority remained I stayed with them until 10 p.m. to discuss religions and how similar they are in many respects. It was one of the best evenings of my experience.

Unfortunately, I was only able to see Florida, which is just one state of this vast and great country. Yet this visit has given me a glimpse of the amazing cultural diversity in the United States and deepened my belief in the dialogue between cultures. This visit has enabled me to see that cross-cultural understanding is possible if we Muslims and Americans have the opportunity to discuss and exchange our ideas. As a woman, this visit has allowed me to see how the American woman has succeeded in stripping off the veils and destroying the taboos in order to participate in the development of the nation, not as a second-class citizen, but as an equal partner in it. My hat is lowered to her accomplishments and to her continuous struggle to achieve more. Her success has given me more hope that the day will come when the Muslim woman regains her complete role in the society.

This Fulbright Visiting Specialists experience will remain one of the richest experiences in my life, both personally and professionally. I hope to be allowed the opportunity to continue my cultural exchange in future visits to other states in the United States. I was startled by the fact that most Americans I had met did not know much about Islam and Muslims.

What they know about Islam and Muslims emanate from one major source—media, namely television. Hence Islam is sine qua non of terrorism, violence, oppression and backwardness. Muslim men are all terrorists and violent and Muslim women are all veiled, secluded and oppressed. My presence as a non-veiled female Muslim professor shocked them, because I did not fit within the stereotypic framework they have of Muslim women. So as soon as I finished my lectures, I was bombarded with questions such as: Why aren't you veiled? Has your husband given you a legal permission to come to United States? Are you Moroccan, you speak good English? And many other questions about the prejudices that they had about Muslim women. My presence has aroused their curiosity so much that at the end of every lecture the questions shifted from its main topic to personal questions about myself, my education, my English and the dichotomy between my image as a Muslim woman, Islam as a religion and the reality of Muslim women in Afghanistan.