Since the start of the new millennium, different cultures across the world began to ponder over the importance of identity. Without exception, the Middle East is one of the many regions that fall into a delirium with questions around such a subject. Adults in this part of the world have long put pressure on themselves, and particularly on their women, to seek ideals in beauty that are not commonly indigenous to their region. Thus, the need to peruse lighter skin and have straighter hair has built a complex in a majority of young girls -who desire to blend in with promoted standards of beauty, as opposed to celebrate what is uniquely their own identity. Today, there is a book that promises to break this negative pattern, Sha’ar Mimi, or Mimi’s Hair.
From both a literary and aesthetic perspective, Sha’ar Mimi is one of the best examples of successful Arabic children’s literature to grace the shelves of bookstores and libraries in a long time. From skin tone to hairstyle and color, Mimi is in fact an identifiable character for Arab girls.
She represents what girls in the region struggle to understand as they grow and teaches them the beauty of celebrating one’s identity, and how that celebration allows them to stand at the same level with girls from other cultures. Sha’ar Mimi is now available in bookstores across the GCC (Arabic only).“She represents what girls in the region struggle to understand as they grow and teaches them the beauty of celebrating one’s identity.