Book Reviews 107 

Auto/Biography and the Construction of Identity 

and Community in the Middle East 

MaryAnnFay, ed 
New York: Pa/grave, 2001. 226 pages. 

This collection of reflective essays and research articles argues for the 
greater use of auto/biographies, both as data sources and as representation­

al texts, in examining individual and communal identity negotiations in the 

Middle East. It reflects the theoretical and topical shifts toward the local, 

regional, and particular that characterize poststructuralist and postmod­
ernist social science research. It also resonates to the increased concern 

about representing marginalized populations in historical, sociological, and 

anthropological literature. Positing that "biography lies at the intersection 

of the personal and the political and of public and private history," Fay calls 
for a more flexible, interpretive, and micro-focused understanding of the 

relationship between individuals and their contexts. She also champions 

auto/biography as both a means of entry into private lives and a lens 

through which to view those lives as part of a broader sociohistorical 
milieu. 

The various authors assert that such a use of biography is consistent 

with traditional Arab and Islamic forms of representation - a claim that re­
centers the Middle East within the social sciences as a key site of know I-









Book Reviews 1 11 

vidual pieces are diverse yet grounded in a solid theoretical framework that 
makes the overall argument for the inclusion of greater biographical study 

in works on the region compelling. When taken together, they should pro­
voke social scientists to "listen" more carefully "to [the] silence" that is often 
held to characterize the Middle East historically and culturally during these 
periods. 

Rach el Christina, Visiting Assistant Profe ssor 

Institute for International Studies in Education 

University of P ittsburgh, P ittsburgh, Pennsylvania