Al Fatat (Arabic: الفتاة / ALA-LC: al Fatāt, "the young girl") was a women's magazine published in Alexandria, Egypt. The magazine was the first Arab women's magazine[1][2] and was one of the earliest publications in the country.[3] It was published from 1892 to 1894. Al Fatat is the forerunner of the women's magazines in the Arab countries.[2]

Al Fatat
CategoriesWomen's magazine
FrequencyMonthly
FounderHind Nawfal
First issue30 November 1892
Final issue1894
CountryEgypt
Based inAlexandria
LanguageArabic

History and profile

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Al Fatat was launched by Hind Nawfal, a Lebanese Christian woman, in Alexandria in 1892.[4][5][6] Nawfal's father and sister also contributed to the establishment of the magazine[7] of which the first issue appeared on 30 November 1892.[8] Elisabeth Kendall stated that Nawfal's magazine had achieved a "fiery fusion of the political and literary".[9]

Al Fatat was published by Nawfal for two years.[1][10][11] She also wrote editorials for the magazine,[11] which was published monthly in its initial stage.[1] Later Al Fatat began to be published twice a month due to its growing popularity.[1]

Being the first women's magazine in the country[8] as well as in the other Arab countries[7] Al Fatat initiated the tradition of the women's press in Egypt.[12] One of the major contributors was Esther Moyal, a Beirut-born Jewish journalist.[13] The magazine covered biographies of notable figures in addition to news concerning women.[14] It also included book reviews, poems and fashion articles.[4] Al Fatat encouraged the participation of women in public life and debates and advocated modern ideals for women.[8] Therefore, it provided secular content and was a truly feminist magazine.[12] On the other hand, politics and religion were not the focus of the magazine.[15]

Al Fatat ceased publication in 1894[14] when the founder and publisher Nawfal married and stopped dealing with the magazine.[1] The complete archive of the magazine was republished by the Women and Memory Forum in Egypt.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Fruma Zachs (2014). "Cross-Glocalization: Syrian Women Immigrants and the Founding of Women's Magazines in Egypt". Middle Eastern Studies. 50 (3): 353–369. doi:10.1080/00263206.2013.863757.
  2. ^ a b Anchi Hoh (21 March 2017). "Her Magazine, Her Voice: Foremothers of Women's Journals in Africa and the Middle East". Library of Congress. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  3. ^ Marilyn Booth (May 2001). "Woman in Islam. Men and the "Women's Press" in Turn-of-the-20th-Century Egypt". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 23 (2): 171–201. doi:10.1017/S002074380100201X. JSTOR 259561.
  4. ^ a b Boutheina Khaldi (2012). Egypt Awakening in the Early Twentieth Century: Mayy Ziydah's Intellectual Circles. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-137-23530-5.
  5. ^ Mona Russell (2004). Creating the New Egyptian Woman: Consumerism, Education, and National Identity, 1863-1922. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4039-7961-2.
  6. ^ Earl L. Sullivan (1986). Women in Egyptian Public Life. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-8156-2354-0.
  7. ^ a b Wiebke Walther (2010). "The Situation of Women in Islamic Countries". In Werner Ende; Udo Steinbach (eds.). Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press. p. 639. ISBN 978-0-8014-6489-8.
  8. ^ a b c Mervat F. Hatem (2011). Literature, Gender, and Nation-Building in Nineteenth-Century Egypt: The Life and Works of 'A'isha Taymur. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-230-11860-7.
  9. ^ Elisabeth Kendall. (2002). "Between Politics and Literature: Journals in Alexandria and Istanbul at the End of the Nineteenth Century". In: Leila Tarazi Fawaz and C. A. Bayly (Eds.) and Robert Ilbert (collaboration). Modernity and Culture: From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231114273, 9780231114271. Start: p. 330. CITED: p.340.
  10. ^ a b "Al Fatat Magazine". The Women and Memory Forum. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  11. ^ a b Bouthaina Shaaban (May–June 1993). "The Hidden History of Arab Feminism". Ms. pp. 76–77. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013.
  12. ^ a b Nabila Ramdani (2013). "Women in the 1919 Egyptian Revolution: From Feminist Awakening to Nationalist Political Activism". Journal of International Women's Studies. 14 (2): 39–52.
  13. ^ Reuven Snir (2007). ""Mosaic Arabs" between Total and Conditioned Arabization: The Participation of Jews in Arabic Press and Journalism in Muslim Societies during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 27 (2): 266. doi:10.1080/13602000701536208.
  14. ^ a b Marilyn Booth (2001). May Her Likes be Multiplied: Biography and Gender Politics in Egypt. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-520-22420-9.
  15. ^ Sonia Dabbous (2004). "'Till I Become a Minister': Women's Rights and Women's Journalism in pre-1952 Egypt". In Naomi Sakr (ed.). Women and Media in the Middle East Power through Self-Expression. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 41. doi:10.5040/9780755604838.ch-003. ISBN 978-1-85043-545-7.