Formations

The chapter sets out a history of Zaynab Fawwaz’s birthplace, the Ottoman territory of Jabal ‘Amil, at the southern tip of Mt Lebanon, as a region that was both marginalized and a centre of Shi‘i intellectual activity. Particular attention is paid to the clan of al-As‘ad, paramount rulers in whose provincial court Zaynab spent some time, and to local historical memory that would have been part of her formation. Fawwaz’s biography of her mentor there, Fatima bint al-As‘ad, suggests her attachment to this childhood venue. The chapter assesses what we know of Fawwaz’s early biography, through competing narratives that even pose very different birthdates, from 1845 to 1860. It provides background for Chapter 9, on Fawwaz’s first novel, which took up the history of this feudal family.