Nadine Naber's Talk illustrates how stereotypical understandings of the concepts of both “Arab culture” and “feminism” lead many people to believe that Arab feminism is an oxymoron. Naber reframes this limiting belief to offer a new framework that allows people not only to understand that Arab feminism exists, but also that there are in fact, many different kinds of “Arab feminism.”

Ultimately, this Talk inspires us to imagine what Arab feminism can offer to anyone interested in achieving gender and social justice globally and locally. Dr. Nadine Naber is an award winning author, public speaker, and activist on the topics of racial and gender justice, women of color, Arab and Muslim feminisms, and Arab and Muslim Americans. She has authored/co-edited five books: Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism; Race and Arab Americans; Arab and Arab American Feminisms (winner of the Arab American Book Award 2012); The Color of Violence; and Towards the Sun.

Naber put love and social justice into practice when she co-founded the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association North America. She served on the boards of the Women of Color Resource Center, INCITE! and UIC’s Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy and the Social Justice Initiative. As a Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Global Asian Studies at UIC, she is the faculty founder of the first center on a college campus serving the needs of Arab American students in the US, The Arab American Cultural Center. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx