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Kulthum Odeh

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Kulthum Odeh
كلثوم عودة
Born(1892-04-02)2 April 1892
Nazareth, Ottoman Palestine
Died24 April 1965(1965-04-24) (aged 73)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Other nameKlavdia Viktorovna Ode-Vasilieva
CitizenshipSoviet (from 1928)
Spouse
Ivan Vasiliev
​
​
(m. 1914; died 1919)​
Children3
AwardsJerusalem Medal for Culture, Arts and Literature, 1990
Academic background
EducationLeningrad University
Academic work
Discipline
Institutions

Kulthum Odeh [a](Arabic: كلثوم عودة; 2 April 1892 – 24 April 1965), also known as Klavdia Viktorovna Ode-Vasilieva (Russian: Клавдия Викторовна Оде-Васильева), was a Palestinian and Soviet academic, writer, and translator, specialising in Palestinian and Arab studies. Odeh was the first Palestinian and Arab woman to work as a university professor.

Early life and education

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Odeh was born on 2 April 1892 in Nazareth, Ottoman Palestine to Nasr Odeh.[2][4][5] The fifth of five sisters, Odeh was raised in an Orthodox Christian household.[2][4] Of her early life, Odeh later wrote:

My arrival to this world was met with tears, for everyone knows how Arabs like ourselves feel when we are told about the birth of a female, especially if this unfortunate girl happens to be the fifth of her sisters, and the family has not been blessed by a boy. Such feelings of hatred accompanied me since an early age.[5]

Although opposed by her mother, Odeh's father sent her to a school run by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IPPO) in Nazareth.[2][4] Awarded a scholarship, Odeh continued her education at the Russian Female Teachers' Training College in Beit Jala.[2][4] Studying at the college from 1900 to 1908, Odeh studied multiple subjects including the Russian language and the history of the Arab world and literature.[2][4] Among her teachers was Palestinian poet Khalil al-Sakakini, who taught Arabic.[4]

Career

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Upon returning to Nazareth, Odeh taught at a IPPO girls primary school and teachers’ seminary and was appointed as an inspector for the Russian schools in Ottoman Palestine.[2][3][4] Odeh also began publishing translations of Russian short stories in Arab journals including al-Nafa'is al-‘asriyya, al-Hilal and al-Hasnaa.[2][4] In 1910, Odeh befriended the Russian Arabist Ignaty Krachkovsky, who became a future colleague and mentor.[2][4] Odeh meet her future husband Ivan Vasiliev, a Russian doctor working at the IPPO's Sergius Compound [ru], in 1913.[b][2][4] The couple married a year later at a church in the Russian Compound district of Jerusalem, despite opposition from Odeh's family.[c][2][4]

Following their marriage, the couple travelled to Russia in order to visit Vasiliev's family in Kronstadt when the World War I broke out.[2][4] Vasiliev was sent to the Balkan Front, whilst Odeh joined the Red Cross.[2][4][7] Completing a nursing course at Kronstadt Naval Hospital [ru], Odeh later worked as a military nurse in Serbia and Montenegro.[2][4][7] After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War the couple supported the Bolsheviks, and Vasiliev joined the Red Army.[3] The couple later moved to Ukraine to help combat the typhus epidemic.[3][4][7] Vasiliev died in 1919, leaving Odeh widowed with 3 young daughters.[d][2][4][7] Odeh worked teaching local peasant women to read and write in Russian[2] and became a regional organizer for the Department for Work among Women of the Communist Party.[4]

Academic career

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Moving to Leningrad in 1924, with a recommendation from Krachkovsky, Odeh began teaching Arabic at the Leningrad Institute of Living Eastern Languages and began her PhD at Leningrad University.[4][6][7] Upon completing her PhD on Arabic dialects in 1928, Odeh was appointed a lecturer of Arabic at the University of Leningrad’s Faculty of Oriental Languages; making her the first Palestinian and Arab woman to become a university professor.[2][4][6][7] Odeh was also a member of the Arabic Department of the Institute of Philosophy, the Arts and History.[4][7] In 1928, Odeh visited Mandatory Palestine and conducted ethnographic research on Palestinian folk customs.[4] Exploring traditions surrounding birth, and peasant rituals during times of drought, Odeh demonstrated an interest in the role of Palestinian women, and condemned attitudes towards them.[4] In one article, Odeh expressed disappointment that women in Palestine were less politically engaged than those in Syria and Egypt.[4]

She later moved from Leningrad to Moscow, where she worked at the Orientalism Institute and lectured at the Institute for International Relations and the Higher Diplomatic School.[4] Odeh was the first woman member of the Society of Soviet Cultural Relations with the Arab countries.[4] In March 1938, Odeh was arrested during the Great Purge for her attempts to defend Aleksandr Shami and Sofya Roginskaya, two Arabists who'd been arrested the previous month.[4] Odeh spent several months in prison without any charges being brought against her, but was ultimately released.[4]

Believing in the role of literature in fostering understanding between individuals and nations, Odeh began to translate Soviet literature into Arabic, and later Arabic literature into Russian.[4] In addition, she published many articles and short stories in the Russian press.[4] Aged 70, Kulthum Odeh was awarded the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Friendship Among Nations by the Soviet authorities, recognising her contribution to improving international relations.[4]

Personal life and legacy

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Odeh's grave at Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow

In 1926, Odeh was granted Soviet citizenship, remaining with her daughters who were Soviet citizens by birth.[4]

On 24 April 1965, Odeh died[4] in Moscow. Odeh was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery, and her grave was visited by Tawfiq Ziad.[1]

In 1990, she was posthumously awarded the Jerusalem Medal for Culture, Arts and Literature.[4] A small collection of Odeh's personal photographs are housed at The Palestinian Museum, as part of the Tawfiq Zayyad Collection.[8]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Odeh's first name is also cited as Kalthoum[1], and her last name as ‘Awda[2] and 'Odeh.[3]
  2. ↑ Also cited as 1912.[3]
  3. ↑ Also cited as 1913.[6]
  4. ↑ Also cited as 1917[7] and 1924.[6]

References

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  1. 1 2 "Tawfiq Ziad in front of the tomb of Kalthoum Ouda in Moscow, The Tawfiq Zayyad Collection". The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive. Birzeit, West Bank: The Palestinian Museum. Archived from the original on 17 July 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Khayat, Nicole; Vologzhanina, Maria (7 June 2023). "From Nazareth to Moscow: Kulthum 'Awda-Vasilieva's "Happy Life" in Russia (1927, 1937, 1965)". In Kane, Eileen; Kirasirova, Masha; Litvin, Margaret (eds.). Russian-Arab Worlds: A Documentary History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 224–235. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197605769.003.0023. ISBN 978-0-19-760576-9. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Masalha, Nur (2022). Palestine Across Millennia: A History Of Literacy, Learning And Educational Revolutions. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 225–227. ISBN 978-0-7556-4295-3. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Charif, Maher. "Kulthum Odeh – Educators (1892–1965)". In Mansour, Camille (ed.). Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question. Beirut, Lebanon; Birzeit, West Bank: Institute for Palestine Studies, The Palestinian Museum. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  5. 1 2 Tamimi, Iqbal (17 October 2008). "Remembering Professor Kulthum Odeh (1892–1965)". London Progressive Journal. London. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gerd, Lora (2025). "Arab intellectuals in Russia (nineteenth–twentieth century): Teaching, research and politics". In Irving, Sarah; Sanchez Summerer, Karène; Mairs, Rachel; Admiraal, Lucia (eds.). Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic, 1870–1970. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 55–78. doi:10.2307/jj.24215737.5. ISBN 978 90 4856 040 0. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 El Hajj, Sleiman (2019). "Archiving the Political, Narrating the Personal: The Year in Lebanon". Biography. 42 (1). Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaiʻi Press: 84–91. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "From the archive of Palestinian writer Kalthoum Odeh, The Tawfiq Zayyad Collection". The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive. Birzeit, West Bank: The Palestinian Museum. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
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