Marlène Barsoum: An Educator Discusses Emigration, Life and Career

“I was too young to really understand the complexity of the journey,” remarked Marlène Barsoum. “It took many many years to understand what it is to be uprooted,” she explained, speaking slowly and carefully, her pensive eyes searching for a way to put her experience into words. “I remember the ship drawing from the harbor, it was sort of dusk and the water was shimmering and I remember the light because the Mediterranean has a very particular light, and leaving my friends and how sad that was.” At age 15, Barsoum boarded a ship in Alexandria, Egypt bound for Italy, and would eventually settle in the U.S. two years later. While the journey was not easy, it defined the meaning of Barsoum’s work as an educator.

Amidst an office filled with stacks of French books, between walls lined with art posters, Barsoum sat down to discuss her upbringing and her work. A speaker of four languages and a member of two cultures, Barsoum knows the meaning of a hybrid identity and the importance of cultural understanding, which she has made a focus of her work while teaching in Hunter College’s French department. Her studies have centered not only on language but on the difficulty of uprooting and the transformation of the individual after emigrating.

Barsoum recalls growing up in what she calls a bicultural atmosphere, since her mother was Italian and her father was Egyptian. She described her experiences fondly, stating “the mothers tend to teach their children the language, the culture, etcetera, so we’re really bicultural also in the way we live, speaking the two languages, knowing about the two cultures, etcetera, so that was, for me, very enriching.”

“Each person of course has their own memories of their childhood and mine was a very happy one,” remarked Barsoum. “I went to a school that I loved and had friends whom I was very sorry to leave when I left because I was an adolescent and during adolescence friendships are so important, so that was a difficult aspect of uprooting.”

While Barsoum had traveled with her parents before leaving home, they had never visited the U.S. prior to their emigration, and the U.S. was an environment that Barsoum describes as completely different from Egypt. Although difficult, she emphasized that the reception of her arrival by those in the U.S. was not the same as the reception of foreigners in the West today. She described a very positive transition, stating “when I came, there were very few Egyptians in New York so people were so curious and wanted to get to know me and invited me here and there so it was a wonderful, wonderful reception.” Barsoum noted that Egypt’s trend of emigration only began in the 1950s and later dwindled after the 1980s. Before that time, not many left Egypt, so those in the U.S. were not accustomed to seeing Egyptians.

Barsoum described New York as a place of belonging, calling it her city. “Anyone can become a New Yorker and that is in my opinion, it makes New York a very generous city,” she remarked. Barsoum appreciates that New York is an international city and noted that she had been offered other jobs, but this is where she intends to stay.

Although New York is now her home, Barsoum does not deny the challenges of emigration and its impact. “Uprooting is a very complicated process and it takes many years to understand exactly the impact of uprooting,” she remarked. She describes the reality faced by those who emigrate “constantly negotiating not only two places but two moments in time.”

Barsoum’s younger sister, Caroline, also made the journey to the U.S. and described her sister’s transition as particularly difficult as she was a teenager, but remarked that she and the family arrived in their new country with expectations to grow and thrive. Caroline noted “my sister, as all the members of our family, took it step by step, and identified what would make us fulfilled and strived towards our goals.” Echoing her sister’s remarks, Caroline believes the most difficult aspect of the journey is saying goodbye to one’s community.

Many of the literary texts Barsoum teaches involve characters who belong to more than one culture and who have moved from one country to another. Barsoum described the challenges implicit in leaving home, explaining that emigration requires the understanding of the homeland as it was when the individual left it and as it is now. “For me it’s wonderful to have found this area in literary studies that I can understand not only intellectually but also in a very personal way,” she said.

Multicultural backgrounds and uprooting have not been the only focus of Barsoum’s studies; she has also examined the causes and effects of war. This semester, she is teaching a class titled “Representations of War” in which students focus on novels and other texts in which war is a prominent theme. “War, I started becoming interested in this topic after the invasion of Iraq, which I found very upsetting, extremely upsetting,” she remarked. Barsoum has a particular passion for political and cultural affairs involving the Middle East and explained that she wanted students to learn about war in an organized way through the classroom so that they could consider it politically as citizens.

Outside of the classroom, Barsoum remains surrounded by colleagues who recognize not only her passions in teaching, but the exceptional personal perspective she brings to the table. “Her background, her Ph.D in French literature, and her research interests make her uniquely poised to understand and to elucidate the problems facing the Middle East today and especially the challenges that immigrants and refugees experience in the West,” stated Michael Taormina, a fellow French professor and colleague of Barsoum’s, in an email.

Aside from teaching, Barsoum is known to attend various educational events and discussions. “She’s very politically engaged and culturally engaged,” remarked Patricia Winter, another professor in the department. She recalls various occasions on which she and Barsoum attended conferences on the politics of the Middle East, noting that Barsoum brings a unique understanding. Winter explained her plans to one day teach in Alexandria, where a childhood friend of Barsoum’s now runs a school.

Barsoum has extensively studied the work of Andrée Chedid, an author from Cairo whose work has focused on the impact of warfare and the meaning of a multicultural identity. Twice, Barsoum met and interviewed Chedid in Paris and Toronto, an experience which she recalled dearly, and said “I was just so struck by her warmth, by how interested she was in all of us, and I mean, usually people just talk about themselves, but she wanted to know about each and every one of us.” Barsoum emphasized the inclusivity she felt around Chedid, a concept which is prevalent in Chedid’s work as well.

Barsoum’s emigration was not simple, having brought a range of conflicting emotions. “There’s the excitement of a new journey and yet the sadness of leaving my home behind,” she remarked. While the transition presented new challenges, she explained that it allowed her to view the world through two unique perspectives which she has made a passion of her work and personal philosophy.

#emigration #Egypt