Unbowed: An Algerian Woman Confronts Islamic Fundamentalism Book

I wish I had access to this book in French.

I loved loved loved this compilation of interviews. Schlema asks no-nonsense questions and provides an incredibly succinct historical background. Messaoudi is comparably no-nonsense and even incredulous at the need to answer some of the questions or clarify her positions. But you can feel the deep-rooted admiration of the one for the other.

Messaoudi's clear vision astounded me. She thinks through *everything.* She admits the limitations of her thinking at various points in the past, doesn't let anyone of the hook (including herself) in the name of maintaining an appearance, and never falls into dogmatism. Her demands are practical and yet practically other-worldly, given the context in which she is living and fighting. She kowtows to no one and doesn't romanticize anything - not her Amazigh clan, FLN trailblazers, fellow feminists, European elite - nothing.

The most fascinating part for me was her point about the islamization of education in Algeria, including instruction only in classical Arabic, which she does not support. She gives forthwith examples of how the classical language (as formalized through the Quran) has reduced the intellectual capacities of the Algerian people and led to a regression in thinking. She prefers French as the language of instruction for its ability to convey intellectual depth, reasoning, and complexity and notes that the country only turned away from it because of the colonial conflict. This is just one example of how she takes everything on a case-by-case basis, seeing it in its evolution, not satisfied with convenient or categorical explanations.

20/20, Saïda Messaoudi!