Looking ahead

Educated Bedouin women redefining identity and belonging

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of Bedouin women in the Negev of southern Israel who choose to acquire higher education. In recognizing the potential that education holds for their community, these women choose to pursue it even in the face of personal sacrifice, simultaneously using and contesting internal gendered distinctions to promote their goals. Their pursuit of higher education, which counters gender-related cultural norms and expectations, engenders a process by which Bedouin women question their identity and belonging-a process that ultimately results in the production of alternative, often resistant, narratives. As they look ahead, these women's marginality becomes their power.