“A woman could be totally powerless, and still give meaning to her life by dreaming about flight.”
— Fatema Mernissi · 1940 – 2015Source: Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, p. 154 (1994) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in Fatema Mernissi's Dreams of Trespass (1994), linked to the character Aunt Habiba; the attribution to Mernissi is verified.
- What remains uncertain
- The book blends autobiography and fiction; wording, punctuation and page numbers vary by edition, and the line functions within a larger narrative, not as a standalone doctrine.
Understanding the quote
Mernissi's line shows how inner life becomes a form of sovereignty: when movement is barred, imagination can create meaning and sustain resistance. It comes from Dreams of Trespass and describes Aunt Habiba's inner flights amid domestic confinement.
The story behind it
Born in Fez in 1940, Mernissi earned a PhD in sociology at Brandeis in 1973 — she combined scholarly work on gender with novels rooted in her childhood.
Going further
- The era
- In the 1940s–50s in Fez, colonial rule and strict gender seclusion shaped domestic life and childhood experience.
- The thinking
- The idea: mental freedom can resist physical limits. Practically, it means telling stories, imagining alternatives, educating others and keeping hope alive.
- Key word
- Imaginal freedom: the power to envision different lives despite material constraints.
- Who quoted it
- Scholars and teachers often quote this sentence when discussing Dreams of Trespass in courses on feminism, postcolonial literature, and gender studies.
Three challenges to live it
In the app, you pick the one that fits your day, and in the evening you say how it went.
Write a short scene (200–250 words) imagining a flight from a window in your home; focus on concrete sensations and small details of motion.
Mernissi shows imagination as inner sovereignty. Writing a flight scene enacts that sovereignty and shapes the dream into something sustaining.
Sit by a window for 10 minutes, eyes open or closed, and allow five images of flight to arise; notice bodily sensations between each image.
The quote ties dreaming to inner resistance. This mindful pause trains attention to flying images and shows how imagination shifts bodily experience of confinement.
Write a one‑page letter to 'Aunt Habiba' explaining how a dream of flight changed the way you view a lived constraint.
Mernissi names Aunt Habiba's inner resistance. Writing a reflective letter creates an inner dialogue and makes explicit how dreaming gives meaning to limits.
How do your private dreams affect the choices you make under constraint?
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