On 25 July 2017, Jordan lost one of its great educators and feminists: Rula Quawas. Rula was an outstanding educator for generations of young Jordanian and Arab feminists. She took on challenges that no one else dared to approach in a conservative patriarchal society, knowing fully well that she might have to pay a dear personal price for each of these battles.
She received her B.A. (1981) and M.A. (1991) in English Language and Literature from the University of Jordan, while simultaneously teaching at high schools in Amman. She earned her Ph.D. in American Literature and Feminist Theory from the University of North Texas in 1995. After receiving her Ph.D., she began her collegiate teaching career at the University of Jordan. For more than two decades, she tirelessly worked and served her graduate and undergraduate students, helping them to become strong women and leading voices for change.
Her sad demise due to a medical error shocked all those who knew and loved her, but it also brought to light many facets of Rula's contributions that even her closest family members and friends did not know. Rula had a long and successful career as a scholar and mentor. Her list of personal and professional accomplishments, public speaking roles, publications, and professional awards, makes deciding what to include in this tribute quite difficult.
However, what is truly unique about Rula must be mentioned here. Rula lived her feminist values as a professor and mentor, propelling many young scholars forward and helping them to pursue their most challenging dreams. Her students were her biggest fans, here they testify about how she changed their lives:
“Rula has been a source of inspiration for many. Her devotion and dedication to be there for her family, especially her mother, have been phenomenal. Rula's giving and loving traits were the core of her strength as a woman. Her words of wisdom will always echo in my mind. She was and will always be my role model.”
– Leen Quawas, Niece and student
“Throughout my B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. years, every time we talked, Professor Rula Quawas would teach me a lesson. Being all that a mentor can be, she guided my soul, helped open my eyes to see beyond, and believed in me until I believed in myself.”
– Reem Awni Resheq, Student
“An inspirer, an enabler, and a celebrator of life, she encouraged her students to see the potential that is within, despite themselves and the obstacles around. Her greatest joy was to watch her students blossom into their true selves.”
– Lazaward Sughayer, Student and friend
“Dr. Rula was my guardian angel. I learned so much from her about what it means to be a true feminist, someone who pushes other women forward, believing in sisterhood, and the importance of supporting each other and working with each other. She was the most positive, shining person I knew. I hope that with all that she taught me, and the hundreds of others whose lives she has touched, we can attempt to fill—at least parts of—the great void that she left us with.”
– Sara Ababneh, Friend and Sister in Struggle
She bravely taught feminist literature, discussed the patriarchal power structure, criticized taboos, and challenged “objective” (male) knowledge by focusing on the importance of female subjectivity. Her relentless feminism and leadership as Director of the Women's Studies Centre (2006–8) ushered in a “golden age” for the Centre and feminist studies at the University of Jordan. She built an institution of critical thought for many young women, a place for academic excellence and female empowerment: a centre that combined the academic with the activist task of making a more just world. Rula continually sought to insert personal narrative into scholarly settings, which I believe was an effort to ensure the humanity of women was never lost in academic analysis.
During her brief deanship of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Jordan (2011-12), Rula encouraged her students to express their feelings and opinions through different venues and media. Her unequivocal support for her students cost her dearly, a price worthy of her beliefs in academic freedom and the struggle for gender justice.
Among her many papers, books and lectures, she was perhaps most proud of her edited book “The Voice of Being Enough: Young Jordanian Women Break through without Breaking Down” (2016), a collection of “life stories” of more than a hundred Jordanian women (and four men). Rula's final words to the readers are: “When you grow into enoughness, you change and thrive, and you change the world with you.” And this is exactly what Rula's life was about: She wanted women in Jordan to recognize themselves as worthy critical thinkers and change makers. Rula embodied this lesson and changed the possibilities of this world for all those who knew her.
