"How can I, Nawal El Saadawi, have an identity if my history is effaced? If my female ancestors are forgotten, buried in oblivion? If Ma'at, Isis, and Sekhmet are not spoken of? If Khadija the wife of Prophet Muhammad (who was the first to call him Prophet, to tell him not to fear or doubt but go on with courage) is not spoken of, although if it were not for her courage Islam might have been born not through him but perhaps through someone else. Is it I who decides what my identity is or those who have the power, and the money, and the arms and the media, and the global market and the multinational corporations in their hands?"
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Original Language: English
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Sources
"Why Keep Asking Me About My Identity?" (1996), included in The Nawal El Saadawi Reader (1997)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nawal_El_Saadawi
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Nawal El Saadawi
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