Category: Performing
Country: Somalia

About

Yasmina fled Somalia in 1987 to Belgium and the Netherlands, where she came to work as an actress. She performed in various ensembles and performed with a solo program. In 1998 she debuted the successful novel Idil, A Girl. Her second novel, The General with Six Fingers, was a highly praised novel, which served as her foundation for her third novel. The Blue Room tells the poignant story of two young women. In her most recent worked entitled, “Displacement and Yet at Home” she relays her experiences growing in up in a small Somalian community.

In her essays Yasmine Allas portrays the environment of her childhood and compares it to what is happening in Africa today. Yasmina says that she is happy that Muslim men in the Arab world and Africa are now beginning to realize that their power is shifting to women.

Her works also showcase the movements that are happening among Muslim women in the Netherlands and Flanders, but she notes that the movements need to be faster and further wide-spread. Yasmina urges Muslim women to fight for sexual freedom, saying, “demand your sexual rights, women of Islam, it’s your turn to take matters into their own hands.” She calls on Muslim women to “live and enjoy your way.” Yasmine gets to the heart of the problem in her literary works by addressing the need for Muslim women to struggle in opposition to any form of oppression.