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But the schism in our vision often affects our balance: as we turn our gaze in two directions at once, we sometimes lose sight of the ground beneath our feet” (67). Arab American literature often expresses this split vision by a nod toward either Arab or American identification. Arab American women writers examined in this book investigate the doubleness and cultural “in-betweenness” in their writing; they experience an ongoing negotiation of self as they explore their many experiences, visions, and heritages. Lisa Suhair Majaj comments on this question of doubleness and alienation in Food for Our Grandmothers:
Indeed, Arab American women live in an in-between space where they oscillate between the Arab and American cultures. While they long to embrace their Arab heritage, they cannot identify with the patriarchal aspects of the culture. On the other hand, they cannot fully belong to the American culture, which often excludes them because of racial and ethnic differences.
Ahmed, Kahf, Halaby, and Abu-Jaber all write of this dilemma faced by Arab American women—as seen in characters like Soraya and Khadija in Halaby’s West of the Jordan, Sirine in Crescent, the different speakers in Kahf’s E-mails, and Leila Ahmed in A Border Passage. They all struggle to reconcile fragmented American identities with the cultural complexities of being Arab American women. As such, they face personal challenges within their own communities regarding their sexual identities. At the same time, they face political and social obstacles from the larger American community that subjects them to racism and discrimination. Thus, they have no choice but to live in the border zone, in the third space.