Ikram Antaki (July 9, 1948 – October 31, 2000) was a Syrian-Mexican writer.

Biography

Antaki was born in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Her grandfather served as the last governor of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. At the age of four, she entered a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

school, where she remained until obtaining her baccalaureate. Later, she emigrated to France to study

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

, and

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

of the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

world at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

VII. In 1975, in her own words, she decided to travel "to the end of the earth," choosing Mexico as the most distant possible place from her native Damascus. She eventually became a Mexican citizen and lived there for the rest of her life. Antaki published 29 books in Spanish, French, and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. During her time in Mexico she collaborated with Mexican television channels 11 and 13 and gained popularity due to her participation on "Monitor" radio news show, one of the most popular in the central region of the country. Her opinions were rather unorthodox: on several occasions she remarked that the generation of youth that participated in the movement of 1968 had been the poorest intellectually of 20th-century Mexico, that

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

had no place in the family or the school, and that

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

s were a

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

invention. Those who have written about her describe her as an extremely reserved person. She never learned to dance or to swim. Her readers, on the other hand, note the lightheartedness of her writings and lectures, the profundity of her investigations and her own originality. She died October 31, 2000, in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, survived by one son, the Mexican author .

Selected works

*''El pueblo que no quería crecer'', 2000. (''The people who didn't want to grow'') *''El espíritu de Córdoba''. (''The spirit of Córdoba'') *''A la vuelta del milenio''. (''To the turn of the millennium'') *''El Manual del ciudadano contemporáneo'', 2000. (''Manual of the contemporary citizen'') *''Segundo Renacimiento: pensamiento y fin de siglo'', 1992. (''The Second Renaissance: thought and the end of the century'') *''En el banquete de Platón'', 1996. *''Epiphanios'', 1992. *''El secreto de Dios'', 1992. *''La pira'', 1990. *''La cultura de los árabes'', 1989. *''Temas morales'', 2002. *''Celebrar el pensamiento'', 1999. *''La tercera cultura : nuestras raíces islamoárabes'', 1990. *''Espiratualidad'', 2000.

References

This article originated as a translation of the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Antaki, Ikram 1948 births 2000 deaths Syrian emigrants to France Syrian novelists Mexican people of Syrian descent Writers from Damascus French emigrants to Mexico 20th-century novelists 20th-century Syrian women writers 20th-century Syrian writers 20th-century Mexican women writers 20th-century Mexican writers