I Speak for Myself

The anthology, I Speak for Myself, is the first in a series of books that allowMuslims to write about themselves. This volume is about Americanwomen describing their experiences of being a Muslima ‒ with one from aman, and further volumes in the series will focus on the American Muslimmale perspective and voices from the Arab Spring. Like most anthologies,the submissions are uneven, and with forty essays, there are more than afew poor essays. The editors indicate that they wanted the authors to writeessays that reflected their comfortable relationship to country and faith, butotherwise they left the theme open.Although the editors seem to have hoped for a diverse outpouring ofessays, and there is a great deal of diversity, there are certain commonthemes. Most notably were a series of essays by women who only talkedabout the hijab, as though that was their identity. These essays were fairlysimilar to one another, which may be the result of the short length of thesepieces. There is value in keeping the contributions brief, as stories movealong and ideas develop quickly, but is a problem when several peoplewrite on the same issue.Despite this general criticism, this book is a natural fit for any courseon Islam in America, gender and religion, or even as an introduction toIslam course. There are some absolutely delightful and fascinating essaysin this collection. The strongest ones dealt with the implicit nature of beingMuslim and American. Rather than discussing either or both identifications,authors simply talked about their lives. Following are several examplesof these types of essays ...