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'Thirteen-year-old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother's ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab's life. The only problem is the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, as well as the check points, the curfews, the permit system and Hayaat's best friend Samy, who is mainly interested in football and the latest elimination on X-Factor, but always manages to attract trouble.
'But luck is on their side. Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel to Jerusalem. However, while their journey may only be a few kilometres long, it may take a lifetime to complete.' (Publisher's blurb)
Exhibitions
Adaptations
-
y
Where the Streets Had a Name
2017
Strawberry Hills
:
Currency Press
,
2018
12643353
2017
single work
drama
'Hayaat is on a mission. She will even skip school to achieve it (encouraged by her best friend Samy). She is determined to retrieve a handful of soil from her Grandmother’s farm as this will make her beloved Sitti Zeynab well again. Standing between her and her goal is the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank.
'With themes of displacement, family, freedom and friendship, this is a powerful story of one family’s response to the confinements of curfew and how they rise above, with humour and love.'
Source: Monkey Baa
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This work has teaching resources.
Notes
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Dedication: To my grandmother Sitti Jamilah, who passed away on 24th April 2008, aged 98. I had hoped that you would live to see this book and that you would be allowed to touch the soil of your homeland again. It is my consolation that you died surrounded by my father and family and friends who cherished you. May you rest in peace.
And to my father — may you see a free Palestine in your lifetime.
Affiliation Notes
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This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it is set in the Middle East.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Promoting Identity and a Sense of Belonging : An Ecocritical Reading of Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Where the Streets Had a Name
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 16 no. 2 2022; (p. 87-102) 'This paper examines Randa Abdel-Fattah’s novel entitled Where the Street Had a Name (2008).The main goal is to examine how interacting with ecology, culture, and nature in the contexts of the host land and the homeland as depicted in the novel promotes identity and a sense of belonging. It also aims at analyzing the links between land and identity from an ecocritical perspective and how Palestinians’ land and identity are psychologically, mentally, and physically interconnected. Through using natural forms of Palestine, humans’ and non-humans’ interconnectedness and the symbol of the iconic jar of homeland soil and its possibilities for revitalising Hayaat’s identity, Abdel-Fattah attempts to reveal her ecological connection to the land of her origin and how this tight connection promotes identity and shapes the sense of belonging. This paper reveals that it is impossible to separate Palestinians from their homeland because the land is part of their identity. Therefore, the current debate provides new perspectives on how to open a new horizon for identity strengthening in Abdel-Fattah’s and other Muslim diasporic writers’ works.' (Publication abstract) -
Grafting Eco-disaporic Identity in Randa Abdel-Fattah's Selected Novels
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: GEMA Online , vol. 17 no. 4 2017; (p. 179-190)'This paper is based on three selected novels entitled Does My Head Look Big In This? (2005), Ten Things I Hate About Me (2006), and Where The Streets Had A Name (2008) written by Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979), a Palestinian-Egyptian Australian Muslim diasporic writer. In this article, we examine the manifestations of grafting eco-diasporic identity by Abdel-Fattah in order to address how identity graft is operated by interacting with ideology, culture and nature in the contexts of the host land and the homeland as represented in the three selected novels. Using Colin Richards’ theory of graft as a framework, we explore identity contestations of Muslim young adults in the novels from an ecocritical and diasporic perspectives. In the novel Does My Head Look Big In This?, the images of Amal’s sense of being marginalised in the semiosphere of the host land and the sense of self-respect of her Muslim rootedness and heritage of the homeland semiosphere frame the fractured graft of identity. The character of Jamilah, in Ten Things I Hate About Me displays genuine manifestations of the collective emblem of the grafted identity. Finally, the symbol of the iconic jar of the homeland soil and its potentiality of regenerating Hayaat’s identity in Where the Streets Had A Name exhibits the ecological semiosphere in which the grafted identity is shaped. The current discussion, therefore, offers fresh insights into allowing a new horizon for identity grafting in Abdel-Fattah’s works as well as other writers within the tradition of Muslim Diasporic Literature.'
Source: Abstract.
-
A Handful of Soil : An Ecocritical Reading of Land in Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Where the Streets Had a Name
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 8 no. 2 2014; (p. 137-148) 'This article explores how Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979-), a Palestinian-Egyptian Australian diasporic writer, engages with the land as being ecocritically functional in her Palestinian-centred novel Where the Streets Had a Name (2008). The premise of the article is that a fictional representation of the Palestinian struggle for emancipation against occupation can be read for its environmental concerns; in particular, for the representation of the intersections of nature and culture. To this end, the article proposes a tripartite approach in reading politics of environment in the narrative by focusing on the effects of land on mind, body and voice. The analysis is carried out through the lens of ecocriticism and it reveals the symbiotic interconnections between humans and land. The findings reveal that the crisis experienced by the Palestinians in Abdel-Fattah‟s fiction goes beyond the need to preserve their past as the land has strong implications on their present state of mind, body and voice.' (Publication abstract) -
Reading and Viewing : Mapping Different Worlds
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: English in Australia , vol. 45 no. 1 2010; (p. 62-63)
— Review of Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
Aussie YA Published in Arabic
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , July vol. 89 no. 9 2010; (p. 11)
-
Untitled
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , September vol. 88 no. 3 2008; (p. 39)
— Review of Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
On the Road : The Tale of Two Sittis
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 15 November 2008; (p. 22)
— Review of Finnikin of the Rock 2008 single work novel ; Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
Find It or Flee from It, You Can't Ignore Truth
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 November 2008; (p. 37)
— Review of Give Me Truth 2008 single work novel ; Hunting Elephants 2008 single work novel ; Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
Cracks Still Show
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 67)
— Review of Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
[Untitled]
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , November vol. 23 no. 5 2008; (p. 39)
— Review of Where the Streets Had a Name 2008 single work children's fiction -
Aussie YA Published in Arabic
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , July vol. 89 no. 9 2010; (p. 11) -
A Handful of Soil : An Ecocritical Reading of Land in Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Where the Streets Had a Name
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 8 no. 2 2014; (p. 137-148) 'This article explores how Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979-), a Palestinian-Egyptian Australian diasporic writer, engages with the land as being ecocritically functional in her Palestinian-centred novel Where the Streets Had a Name (2008). The premise of the article is that a fictional representation of the Palestinian struggle for emancipation against occupation can be read for its environmental concerns; in particular, for the representation of the intersections of nature and culture. To this end, the article proposes a tripartite approach in reading politics of environment in the narrative by focusing on the effects of land on mind, body and voice. The analysis is carried out through the lens of ecocriticism and it reveals the symbiotic interconnections between humans and land. The findings reveal that the crisis experienced by the Palestinians in Abdel-Fattah‟s fiction goes beyond the need to preserve their past as the land has strong implications on their present state of mind, body and voice.' (Publication abstract) -
Promoting Identity and a Sense of Belonging : An Ecocritical Reading of Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Where the Streets Had a Name
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 16 no. 2 2022; (p. 87-102) 'This paper examines Randa Abdel-Fattah’s novel entitled Where the Street Had a Name (2008).The main goal is to examine how interacting with ecology, culture, and nature in the contexts of the host land and the homeland as depicted in the novel promotes identity and a sense of belonging. It also aims at analyzing the links between land and identity from an ecocritical perspective and how Palestinians’ land and identity are psychologically, mentally, and physically interconnected. Through using natural forms of Palestine, humans’ and non-humans’ interconnectedness and the symbol of the iconic jar of homeland soil and its possibilities for revitalising Hayaat’s identity, Abdel-Fattah attempts to reveal her ecological connection to the land of her origin and how this tight connection promotes identity and shapes the sense of belonging. This paper reveals that it is impossible to separate Palestinians from their homeland because the land is part of their identity. Therefore, the current debate provides new perspectives on how to open a new horizon for identity strengthening in Abdel-Fattah’s and other Muslim diasporic writers’ works.' (Publication abstract) -
Grafting Eco-disaporic Identity in Randa Abdel-Fattah's Selected Novels
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: GEMA Online , vol. 17 no. 4 2017; (p. 179-190)'This paper is based on three selected novels entitled Does My Head Look Big In This? (2005), Ten Things I Hate About Me (2006), and Where The Streets Had A Name (2008) written by Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979), a Palestinian-Egyptian Australian Muslim diasporic writer. In this article, we examine the manifestations of grafting eco-diasporic identity by Abdel-Fattah in order to address how identity graft is operated by interacting with ideology, culture and nature in the contexts of the host land and the homeland as represented in the three selected novels. Using Colin Richards’ theory of graft as a framework, we explore identity contestations of Muslim young adults in the novels from an ecocritical and diasporic perspectives. In the novel Does My Head Look Big In This?, the images of Amal’s sense of being marginalised in the semiosphere of the host land and the sense of self-respect of her Muslim rootedness and heritage of the homeland semiosphere frame the fractured graft of identity. The character of Jamilah, in Ten Things I Hate About Me displays genuine manifestations of the collective emblem of the grafted identity. Finally, the symbol of the iconic jar of the homeland soil and its potentiality of regenerating Hayaat’s identity in Where the Streets Had A Name exhibits the ecological semiosphere in which the grafted identity is shaped. The current discussion, therefore, offers fresh insights into allowing a new horizon for identity grafting in Abdel-Fattah’s works as well as other writers within the tradition of Muslim Diasporic Literature.'
Source: Abstract.
Awards
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Jerusalem,
cIsrael,cMiddle East, Asia,
- Palestine, Middle East, Asia,
