'Speed Sisters' - accelerating past gender stereotypes in film: Amber Fares at TEDxBarcelonaWomen
The speaker claims that through documenting the Speed Sisters, an all-women race car team in Palestine, a single story about Arab women and men can be broken to create new role models. The core message is that shifting away from monolithic stereotypes about the Middle East requires actively sharing diverse narratives of strength, challenging preconceived notions about gender roles. The speaker illustrates this by recounting a personal journey from feeling alienated in Canada post-9/11 to finding purpose through racing in occupied Palestinian territories. ## Speakers & Context - Speaker: An individual who grew up in Northern Alberta, Canada, with Lebanese immigrant parents, and whose grandmothers were a significant part of their childhood culture. - Early Life Context: Mixed Lebanese and Canadian culture, involving eating hummos and playing hockey. - Catalyst for Change: Feeling like an "Arab in Canada" after 9/11, due to vandalism of mosques and parental phone calls telling them to "go back to where they came from." - Intellectual Need: A need to better understand Arab culture to make sense of global events. - Second Location Context: Janine, a "socially conservative City in the occupied Palestinian territories." - Key Encounter: Meeting Sunna, a race car driver from East Jerusalem, while standing on a dimly lit street at midnight surrounded by 35 men, with a cloud of exhausts hovering. - Artistic Opportunity: Identifying a story needing to be told about the Speed Sisters, the "Middle East's first all-women race car driving team." - Core Film Thesis: The film is about five Palestinian women defying military occupation and social pressure to race cars, but "at its core it's a story about the human drive to break through obstacles in our lives in order to stay true to ourselves and our dreams." - Confrontation of Stereotypes: Realizing the film process would force confronting stereotypes about Middle Eastern society, specifically portrayals of Arab men as "violent extremists who keep women out of the public eye," and women as "weak passive victims who are stuck in an all U male dominant society." - Overcoming the Trap: Recognizing the risk of "falling into the Trap of fulfilling outside expectations and creating a film about male oppression." - Ultimate Goal: Creating alternative images of strong male characters who "treat women equally" to build new role models, rejecting the danger of the "single story." ## Theses & Positions - A story can combat widespread fear and mistrust within a community by sharing firsthand experience. - The human drive to break through obstacles to stay true to oneself and one's dreams is the central, underlying human narrative. - Stereotypes (e.g., of Arab men as violent and women as submissive) are narratives that must be actively resisted and replaced. - Showing alternative images of strong men who support gender equality is crucial for creating new role models. - Reaching an understanding of a place requires rejecting the idea that there has ever been a "single story" about it. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Single Story:** A concept, referenced via Chimamanda Adichie, suggesting that when a people are only shown in one way repeatedly, that limited depiction becomes their perceived reality. - **Gender Equity:** The state or effort of achieving equality between genders, which the speaker suggests is not universally supported by all Arab men. - **Speed Sisters:** The name given to the "Middle East's first all-women race car driving team." ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Personal Journey:** Moving from Northern Alberta, Canada, to Lebanon to gain context for understanding cultural conflict. - **Filmmaking as Agency:** Using the camera to capture and disseminate a story to combat fear and mistrust. - **Narrative Subversion:** Intentionally crafting a film that shows men supporting women's public pursuits (racing) to dismantle existing negative stereotypes. - **Community Shift:** The extended family and community surrounding the Speed Sisters demonstrated a shift from being "disapproving and skeptical to encouraging and proud" due to the film's evidence. ## Timeline & Sequence - Early Life: Growing up in Northern Alberta, Canada, amidst Lebanese and Canadian culture. - Catalyst: Events following 9/11, leading to feeling alienated in Canada. - First Trip: Traveling to Lebanon to connect with Arab roots. - Second Location/Focus: Reaching Janine, an occupied Palestinian city. - The Core Event: Witnessing the Speed Sisters in action on a dark street at midnight. - Film Documentation: Beginning the project, leading to the confrontation of stereotypes. ## Named Entities - **Northern Alberta, Canada** — Place of early upbringing. - **Lebanon** — Country visited for cultural understanding. - **Janine** — Socially conservative city in the occupied Palestinian territories. - **East Jerusalem** — Origin of Sunna. - **Speed Sisters** — The subject of the film, described as "the Middle East's first all-women race car driving team." - **Chimamanda Adichie** — Nigerian novelist quoted regarding the "single story." ## Numbers & Data - Number of men surrounding the subject in Janine: **35**. - Horsepower of the race car: **600 horsepower**. ## Examples & Cases - **Speed Sisters' Performance:** The women "did Donuts in the middle of the road" in Janine, demonstrating defiance within a conservative setting. - **Father's Support:** Mar's father, Khed, who grew up in a refugee camp in Janine, is cited as an example of supportive fatherhood. - **Family/Community Response:** The shift of the extended family and community from being "disapproving and skeptical to encouraging and proud." ## Counterarguments & Caveats - Acknowledging the existence of people within Palestinian society who "disagree with what the the speed sisters are doing." - Caution against the trap of "fulfilling outside expectations and creating a film about male oppression." - The speaker clarifies that the film is not intended to take away from the "Practical problems that women in Palestine face." ## Methodology - **Observation/Documentation:** Using a camera to document a spontaneous, powerful event (the women racing) in a specific location. - **Cultural Immersion:** Physical travel to Lebanon and Janine to understand the roots of the experience. - **Narrative Reframing:** Actively challenging the outside portrayal of a group (Arab culture/women) by presenting an alternative, internally generated narrative. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The purpose of the work is to encourage audiences to continue the conversation beyond the film and work together to "break through that single story." - Call to Action: Encourages everyone to seek out and share stories that break assumptions about gender stereotypes. - Ultimate Hope: Creating a new "Paradise" that can be shared by all. ## Verbatim Moments - *"so basically we ate a lot of humos and we played a lot of hockey."* - *"for the first time in my life I started to feel like an Arab in Canada"* - *"I felt like a stranger in my own home"* - *"I connected with my with my Arab Roots"* - *"here was this Fierce and determined woman who is like ripping up the road in the middle of the most conservative City in Palestine"* - *"there was a story here that needed to be told"* - *"when I enter this beautiful modified car 600 horsepower I feel like the happiest girl in the world"* - *"at its core it's a story about the human drive to break through obstacles in our lives in order to stay true to ourselves and our dreams"* - *"Arab men are often portrayed as violent extremists who keep women out of the public eye and women are shown as weak passive victims who are stuck in an all U male dominant society"* - *"by showing alternative images of strong male characters who treat women equally will go a long way to creating new Role Models"* - *"when we create a single story and we show a people in one way in only one way over and over again that's what they become"* - *"Speed Sisters will be able to inspire audiences around the world and men and women and we'll create a new Paradise that we can all share"*