>> Speaker 1: From the Library
of Congress in Washington D.C.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Abla Amawi,
I'm so happy to see you here.
I have known you, followed
your career,
and you are an exceptional young
woman who has gone through,
done her PhD, worked with
international organization,
brought up a lovely young
lady all by herself,
struggled with numerous obstacles,
and contributed intellectually
to a lot of the work
that we have on--
on Jordan and on the
[inaudible] in-- as a whole.
But tell me a little bit; where
were you born; where did you grow up
and how did you come
to be who you are?
>> Abla Amawi: Well thank
you first for this interview.
I was-- I grew up in Jordan.
I was born in Jordan to
an Arab- American father
and Turkish [inaudible] mother, so
I grew up in a bi-cultural house,
and I think the fact that I grew
up in Jordan yet did my high school
in the states as part
of the American Field Service
Program made me realize
that the challenges our
region face since childhood,
I mean going through the
1967 war had affected me
at the political level that
we have to do something.
And secondly is growing up as
a female in the Arab world,
facing the difficulties
that females face in terms
of the cultural obstacles, as
well as the norms and traditions.
I remember as a child, eight years
old, I decided I'm going to run away
if my brothers have more
privileges than I do,
and I think that was very
formative for me because it--
it led me to have the motivation
to say we have to do some changes
to injustice; I think that's what
motivates me the most is the fight
for injustice, whether it's gender,
human rights, political freedoms
for the Palestinians, or any
of the rights of any group
of people that are deprived.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And
so then you went back
after high school; you
went back to Jordan?
>> Abla Amawi: Yes I
went back to Jordan,
finished high school again there
because of the equalization
of the educational system, and then
I finished my bachelorette studies
in Jordan, came to Georgetown
to do masters and PhD
in comparative politics with
the focus in the Arab world.
And being really at the
center for Arab studies
at Georgetown gave me
the theoretical framework
in which I can operate, but also
showed me a lot of role models
that were there in terms of
the professors that were there,
the activities of the center
and the focus, especially being
in Washington, you see the
[inaudible] of decision making,
how policies are made, and
the impact on the region.
And for me this was very
important to pursue a career
that combines policy
making, yet at the same time
that is rooted in the field.
So after my studies I taught at
Georgetown and then I went back.
I decided to make a
decision to go back.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And you had the
choice of staying because you were--
you had the opportunity, you had the
offers to stay in the United States
and yet it was a choice
that you made yourself.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb:
Because you felt you needed
to serve your region better.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes.
I think being in the States gives
you the opportunity really to be
at the decision making, but
at the same time being away
from the region makes you very--
you look at it from a
theoretical academic point of view,
and for me I felt if I want
to serve the region better,
although it would be
difficult I have to be there.
I have to be there to understand
the pulse of the people,
what drives them, what
motivates them,
how do they fight their
own challenges,
and this is what led
me to go back and say--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: So with whom did
you work when you first went back?
Did you go teach or did you
work with the U.N. or-- ?
>> Abla Amawi: When I went
back I first worked with the--
Her Majesty Queen Noor's
Foundation, a development foundation
and at the time they had a lot
of projects at the grassroots--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb:
On women isn't it?
>> Abla Amawi: Yes they have
projects focusing on women
but it was more of an integrated
approach to development focusing
on the human being as such.
So they had more on culture,
they had on gifted education,
so they had the whole
spectra of work,
and for me that was the beginning.
And from there I worked with the
U.N. -- with UNGP, and the UNGP is--
our work is mainly development
but with the focus on policy.
But what I have done
throughout, since UNGP I found
that the work is amazing and it gave
me an opportunity to travel and work
in countries such as Sudan and
conflict Libya, Yemen, Oman,
and a lot of the other
Arab countries
so that gave me a broader
region of perspective.
But at the same time I have
constantly continued doing my
academic work, my own
research, my own writing,
because I feel what the U.N. Gives
me is the grounding in the field,
yet I have to do my own research on
issues that are close to my heart,
which the U.N. in many cases I
cannot be as free such as issues
of democracy, civil society, gender
issues, gender based discrimination,
poverty at the gender level.
So this, for me, the
combination is not easy to do,
to have full time work
yet full time academia,
and but at the same time it allows
me the freedom to really explore
and push the frontiers
of where issues stand.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And push your
own potential to the fullest.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes and use your
own potential to the fullest.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And use your
own potential to the fullest.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Absolutely.
What are some of the things you've
been doing in these countries;
in Oman, in Libya, in many of
the countries you've been there,
what kind of projects
were you involved in?
>> Abla Amawi: Well in Sudan in
particular, because I was there
for a year, working on issues
of poverty due to gender
but mostly post-conflict
and conflict resolution,
so that was very very challenging to
me because we worked a lot on trying
to see how we can come-- bring both
warring parties to the peace table
yet not discuss any political issues
so they can negotiate and discuss
on issues of education, development,
but not political resolution.
So this was very critical.
Another critical projects are
projects that deal with the displace
and the transitional
zones, so that was very--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: In Sudan as well?
>> Abla Amawi: In Sudan.
In Sudan.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And it's a
very significant problem, I mean--
>> Abla Amawi: Yes.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: The
problem, the displaced.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes, it's very--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: There are
what, a couple of million people?
>> Abla Amawi: Well they estimate
them at five million in dispersed.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Yes.
>> Abla Amawi: So, for
me, this was really very--
it challenges you as a human being.
It challenges your vulnerabilities,
and really it makes you question
so many of the norms, and it makes
you question what you believe in,
even what you speak about that is
this real, this is a harsh reality,
so for me that was a
good learning experience.
In Libya I try to assist in
terms of they had funding
but they did not have a program
to tailor vocational
training for women.
They had very traditional vocational
training and the women were ending
up unemployed, a useless
waste of time.
So what I helped the government
and UNGP in doing was really try
to refocus the vocational educate--
education programs to tailor it
to more profitable
constructive education.
And in the case of Oman I did the
same thing as assist the government
and UNICEF in coming up
with a social strategy
that will take issues, gender
issues, at the heart, so.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: So you
put new issues on the table.
>> Abla Amawi: Yes.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Yes,
and you focused on rather
than tradition you
brought in new things
that you thought would
be more important
for the women themselves as such.
And how do you coup with-- with
your child, with your family?
How-- how do you do all this and-- ?
>> Abla Amawi: Well I
think my child is a stem
and I think she's what
motivates me to go forward
because in a sense I
don't raise her alone,
I mean in the Arab world we
have the nice family support.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb:
Network of family, yes.
>> Abla Amawi: So I know
that they are there always.
At the same time, I mean,
I cannot ignore the fact
that we have a very
civilized divorce.
My ex-husband is a professor and
he is a Middle East historian,
so he's also culturally very
aware and very supportive.
So in that case, for me,
what matters is that I see
in my child the motivation to
have a better future for her.
I don't want her to grow
up in a world that is--
discriminates against
her, in a world that has--
that does not take equality as
a human right for everybody,
and that it-- this is
not an important concept,
that does not take religion
to extremes where it's used,
not only Islam, in all religions--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: All religions.
>> Abla Amawi: As an excuse to
really discriminate against others.
So for me she has been
the challenge and the--
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: And
you have been the mother.
>> Abla Amawi: I hope.
And I dedicate all the work to
her usually because in the hope
that she will have a more
inclusive society to live in,
whether it's in Jordan or globally.
I mean the Arab world is not the
only world that discriminates.
We're seeing this in terms of human
rights violation universal issue.
So this what drives me, and
exhausts me at the same time.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But it's in-- in the new generation
anyway that we put our hope
and is she planning,
is she already thinking
about what he future is going to be?
>> Abla Amawi: Well she
believes in human rights
and she has a very strong sense
of achieving justice,
which is very good.
I mean taking her with me to poverty
areas, whether in Sudan, in Egypt,
and in Jordan in particular
she's the team leader,
as she calls herself, of poverty
clubs within the schools is
that she sees that there
is a mission we have to do
and that's what I keep telling
her; we are brought into life
for a mission and we are privileged
that we have the opportunity
to achieve something.
So in that she sees herself
that she has to do some--
but at the same time I give
her the opportunities to be--
to grow up as a child, happy,
well fed, well educated,
but most importantly that she has
rights and that her life is her own
if she enjoys the rights
and responsibilities.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: I think
that you're a wonderful mother
and her education is-- is
complimented by your experiences
and by sharing them with you
and talking about them with you
and going to places and I really
want to thank you for being with us
and for sharing this with us and
I'm sure that many women will look
up to you and will see you
as a mother when they have
to make difficult choices
and-- and when they have to--
to take stands on issues.
And thank you so much for being--
for being here and for
making this program possible.
>> Abla Amawi: Thank you very much.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: Thank you Abla.
>> Speaker 1: This has
been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.