| Description | An interview with Aalaa AL-SHAMAHI, a single woman with no children, who is a Sixth-form pupil, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Aalaa AL-SHAMAHI’s father was a Historian, born in Yemen and her mother a Housewife born in Yemen. In the interview, she talks about …
'AL-SHAMAHI, Aalaa M52255/2/144 Logged by Helen Butcher.
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“I was born in 1983 in Birmingham. My mother grew up in a village in Yemen.” Father very involved in the Yemeni community.
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Describes going to Arabic School as well as English school.
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Talks about Arabic School. Segregated boys and girls.
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Biggest fears in the community: Yemeni girls living away from their families, men fathering children.
Going away for weekends with religious organisations.
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What she does on these weekends away. Talks, seminars.
1:56 Not many Yemeni influences in her life. English lady who came to be like her mother.
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Talks about attending Lee Bank school. Predominantly black school.
Talks about how sex was discussed when she was younger.
Talks about Chad Vale School.
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Talks about taking the 11+. Failed King Edwards exam. Got in to Sutton Coldfield Girls School. Discusses races mixing in secondary school.
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Discusses wearing the Muslim headscarf at school. First day she wore it she was punched in the face.
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How she defines what culture she comes from.
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Going back to Yemen. How they treat her when she returns there.
Talks about the group ‘Young Muslims’.
4:11 discusses her views on English culture.
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Continues to talk about English culture. Discusses democracy. Palestine issues.
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Talks about the Arab television and the English media. Attitudes towards Jewish people. How she uses the Internet at school and at home.
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Is the Internet a worry to the Muslim community? Discusses her father allowing her to move away to university.
3:18 Discusses arranged marriages. Friends who have got married.
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Continues to talk about getting married. How her family would react to her marrying someone who is not Arabic.
0:43 Talks about her praying. How important in her life praying is.
Talks about her parents wanting them to return to Yemen.
3:32 Talks about living in Edgbaston.
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Her hopes for making parts of Birmingham a better place to live.
ENDS |