A.Z. Abushady. Undated photograph, Washington, DC, ca. 1950s
Thanks to Esmat El-Halaby for sending along a copy of this article:
Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. 1981. “A Short Account of Abu Shadi’s Life in the United States,” Mundus Arabicus, Vol.1: Arab Writers in America: Critical Essays and Annotated Bibliography. Published by Dar Mahjar, Cambridge, Mass. pp.36-47.
Download Jayyusi -a short account of abu shadi's life in the united states - salma khadra jayyusi
By Maged Atiya
Posted: March 12, 2015 | Author: Maged Atiya (aka salamamoussa) | Filed under: Egypt, Egyptian Politics, History
http://salamamoussa.com/2015/03/12/immigrant-zero/
April 12 marks the 60th anniversary of the passing of Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi. Most historians of Egypt mark the end of the so-called “liberal era” from the date of the 1952 coup. A more fitting date would be April 1946, when Abu Shadi immigrated to America *, one step ahead of the twins of Egyptian oppression, the secret policeman and the religious fanatic. A mere decade earlier, Abu Shadi was a luminary of Egypt’s cultural scene, a doctor by day and a poet, translator and cultural reformer by night. He bore the stigmata of the rare Egyptian liberal, advocacy for the right of women to control their lives and their bodies. The intervening years were bad for his kind. In 1933 a budding Egyptian thinker, Sayyd Qutb, published in Abu Shadi’s magazine “Apollo”. A decade later he would denounce similar men as “Brown Englishmen”. Qutb and Abu Shadi, once companions, were now sailing in opposite directions. Having left Egypt for America, Abu Shadi made a remarkable confession of faith, writing for a radio program “For the sake of freedom, I preferred to leave my country when tyranny was throwing independent thinkers into chains”. Qutb, returning to Egypt from America would speak of how independent thinking in the West led men to become “numb to faith in religion”.
Perhaps there were earlier Egyptian immigrants to America, but Abu Shadi’s public act of immigration, rare for its time, should earn him the distinction of “Immigrant Zero”. More immigrants would follow him, seeking either freedom or opportunity, or both. Many would not share his vision, but bring Egypt’s divisions and ills along for the ride. Even after decades of immigration, there is no large representative “hyphenated” group that espouses broad liberal values, especially with an eye for implementation in Egypt. It is not that the immigrants and their descendants lack men and women holding these views; it is that they are so far unable to create a viable block. The situation mirrors the travails of liberal political currents in Egypt. Even with the third generation of immigrants now coming into adulthood, there seems to be no movement toward building such groups. Many walk away in despair of the seeming insolubility of the Rubik Cube of Egypt and freedom.
It is unfair to expect a small group of immigrants to lift the fortunes of their Motherland. But it is not too much to ask them to preach the values they witness every day in lives frequently better than any they might have had in Egypt. This observation brings us back to the point made amply by Abu Shadi and his cohorts; that political oppression in Egypt is a by-product of social oppression, rather than its cause. The nation’s constrained and unreasoned attitudes towards religion and sex make it easy for many a demagogue, on any of the polarized sides, to mobilize followers and marginalize opponents. The situation has not gotten better with time either. The “chains” of Abu Shadi’s lament may now seem velvety by comparison.
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* Abu Shadi’s work can be found in two locations. “The Bee Kingdom“, collated by his granddaughter, artist Joy Garnett. Also, at the library of the University of Utah, placed there by historian Aziz Atiya, who followed him into immigration by a few years, and was his one-time neighbor in Alexandria.
Dr. Abushady and Annie (with Fahmy) in Benson, Oxfordshire (ca.1922). Photo courtesy of David and Peggy Sidebottom, Toronto, ONT and the Abushady Archive.
Dr. A.Z. Abushady's wife Annie (née Bamford; 1885-1946) was an independent-minded globetrotter and self-described freemason. Her branch of the family of Stalybridge cotton weavers was descended from Samuel Bamford, the renowned 19th-century labor organizer and author of Passages in the Life of a Radical. Together, Annie and Zaky introduced innovations to agricultural and beekeeping practices in England (1919-1922) and in Egypt (1922-1946).
Hoda Abushady, Giza (ca.1945)
HODA GARNETT (née ABUSHADY)
1927 - 2011
Hoda Garnett, nee Abushady, age 84 of East Islip, L.I. passed away on October 13, 2011. Born on October 2, 1927 in Alexandria, Egypt, Hoda was the youngest of three children born to Anna (nee Bamford) and Dr. Ahmed Zaki Abushady, renowned poet, publisher, scientist and professor of medicine at the University of Alexandria. In 1946 the Abushady's emigrated from Egypt to the United States, arriving by ship in New York Harbor in April of that year. Hoda was a photographer by vocation. She became a news photographer while serving in the U.S. Navy (1952-1956), the first native-born Egyptian to become a WAVE. A long-time member of the Professional Photographers of America, Hoda's work garnered many awards and was widely published, appearing in LIFE magazine and elsewhere. Hoda was a world traveler and a prolific artist. Living and raising a family for many years on Long Island's South Shore, she was drawn to documenting the landscapes of her locale: shore lines, light houses, bridges, night skies, snow-covered ponds, birches in bloom, children at the beach. Hoda had a keen eye for detail, a documentarian's compulsion to record and a great appreciation for the beauty found in the everyday. Surviving her is her husband of 55 years, Dr. Merrill Garnett, a daughter and a son: Joy of Brooklyn, NY and Wade of East Islip, NY. She also leaves her sister, Safeya Abushady of Alexandria, VA, two grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Reposing at the Fredrick J. Chapey & Sons East Islip Funeral Home, 200 East Main Street (1/2 mile west of the S.S. Parkway, Exit 45W). Visiting Sunday 1:00-5:00 PM. The family will honor and celebrate Hoda's life with words of remembrance on Sunday at 2:00 PM at the Funeral Home. Private interment Monday at the Pinelawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Published in Newsday on Oct. 15, 2011
Hoda Garnett's website
Left to right: Hoda, Dr. Abushady, and Ramzy, in New York City, soon after arriving, Spring 1946.
AMIN RAMZY ABUSHADY
1926 - 2011
Amin Ramzy Abushady, age 85, of 1733 SR 3009, Meshoppen, PA, passed away on Thursday afternoon, July 28, 2011.
He was formerly of New York City.
Born on Feb. 25, 1926, in Port Said, Egypt, he was the son of Anna Bamford and the renown Dr. Ahmed Zaki Abushady, well-known poet, writer and former dean of medicine at the University of Alexandria, Egypt.
Ramzy (as he was known to his friends), enlisted in the Army during World War II and served overseas in Italy.
He later worked with the United Nations for 36 years, serving in several capacities — dealing with various heads of state, the news media, including photographers, and national and international security. After a U.N. mission to Lebanon, where he served as an interpreter/observer with the United Nations International Peacekeeping Force, he traveled with the secretary-general's representative as a member of a three-man mission to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Aden, Muscat and the United Arab Emirates.
Being a proud member of the American Tree Farm System, Ramsey retired to his tree farm in Meshoppen in 1986, where he and his family had spent many summers and where his wife had family.
Surviving him is his wife of 57 years, the former Madge Mathison; a daughter and two sons, Andrea Garvey of Huntington, L.I.; Mark of Sunnyside, N.Y.; and Ramsey Rowland of Meshoppen and Largo, Fla. He also leaves two sisters, Safeya of Alexandria, VA; and Hoda Garnett of East Islip, NY; three grandchildren, several nieces and a nephew.
Ramzy was a member of the Association of Former International Civil Servants, which covers 15 organizations.
In accordance with his request, he will be cremated.
Memorial services and interment will be at the convenience of the family. Arrangements were made through the Sheldon Funeral Home, Main Street, Meshoppen, PA 18630.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing may make memorial donations to the charity of the donor's choice.
Published in the Scranton Times on July 31, 2011
Miss Safeya Ahmad Zaki Abushady (center); with Aisha her husband Muhammad Ismail Effendi. The night of Friday 15.8.1941, in the cinema of the Ezbekiyya Gardens, during her visit to Cairo to take her English language oral exam on Thursday 14.8.1941.
SAFEYA AHMED ZAKY ABUSHADY
1923 - 2013
Age 90, of Alexandria, VA, passed away on November 8, 2013 after a long and extraordinary life. Born on October 5, 1923 in Helwan, Egypt, Safeya was the eldest child of an Englishwoman, Annie (nee Bamford), and Dr. Ahmed Zaky Abushady, the influential poet, publisher, bee scientist and former Dean of Medicine at the University of Alexandria, Egypt. Safeya was a poet in her own right, encouraged by her father. Her first volume of poetry was published in Cairo in 1954.
Safeya was among the first students and one of the few women to matriculate at the newly established Farouk University (now University of Alexandria), where she majored in English Literature. Safeya excelled at languages, literature and music (violin and piano).
As a young adult, even before their mother succumbed after a long illness, Safeya took on the role of the eldest, tutoring her two younger siblings, Ramzy and Hoda. Soon after emigrating from Egypt to the US in 1946, Safeya began working as a translator and personal assistant to then-Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia. The Abushady family settled first in New York City and Springfield Gardens, Jamaica, Queens; Safeya, as well as her father, eventually settled in Washington, DC.
Safeya went on to serve in the media divisions of the United States Information Agency (USIA), including the Voice of America, and abroad with the United States Information Service (USIS) for 25 and a half years, retiring in January of 1985.
Surviving Safeya are her five nieces and nephews: Andrea Randa Abushady Garvey of Huntington, NY; Mark Amin Abushady of Sunnyside, NY; Ramsey Rowland Abushady of Seminole, FL; Joy Amina Garnett of Brooklyn, NY; and Wade Ahmed Garnett of East Islip, NY. Also, surviving her are her sister-in-law Madge Abushady of Meshoppen, PA and her brother-in-law Merrill Garnett of East Islip, NY; her cousins Ashraf and Lesley Younes of Annapolis MD; five grandnieces and nephews; and many friends, family and former colleagues in the US, England, Canada and Egypt who will miss her dearly.
By her request, Safeya was laid to rest in accordance with Islamic tradition and is interred at King David Memorial Gardens, Falls Church, VA. Arrangements were made by the family through the funeral home. Further memorial services will be at the discretion of the family.
Published in The Washington Post on Nov. 26, 2013
Joy Garnett, Alexandria, July 1983
Joy Garnett is a visual artist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BA in Humanities and Middle East Studies from McGill University, studied painting at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and completed her MFA at The City College of New York. She was the Arts Editor for Cultural Politics (2005-2016), a peer-reviewed media theory journal published by Duke University Press. Joy has written and lectured extensively about contemporary art for publications that include Harper’s, M/E/A/N/I/N/G, Journal of Visual Culture and Artnet Magazine; she pens the irregular column “Copy That!” for Art21 Magazine. Her paintings have been shown at the Milwaukee Art Museum, MoMA-PS1, Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston University Art Gallery, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Museum of Contemporary Craft Portland, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Witte Zaal in Ghent, Belgium. She has received grants from Anonymous Was a Woman and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and commissions from The Wellcome Trust (UK) and The Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee. Her works are in the permanent collections of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, Altria and The West Collection, Oaks, PA.
More info: http://joygarnett.net