The idea of the “nation-state” with a monolithic, homogeneous “imagined community” has dominated discourses in many of the twentieth century Arab states, with competing ideas about who the nation is. Faced with the Arab Spring, the question of national belonging became more pressing, sometimes with violent results. Further, globally, the questions: who is the “other?,” and who are we? have become difficult, as the “other” is now a category in “constant flux” (Blommaert 2013: 5). I examine the nation (and its often violent effects) from feminist perspectives in recent literary productions of Arab women writers who responded to the violence of the state with various creative ideas. I juxtapose the writing of the Palestinian Sahar Khalifa, with that of the Jordanian, Samiha Khrais. Comparing both feminist projects sheds light on the identity struggles in Arab communities. Jordan and Palestine have had to demarcate their identity boundaries since at least 1948 and the Palestinian dispossession. Are these authors concerned about these boundaries? Where do women belong in these boundaries? These are some of the questions I investigate through their literature. Discourse analysis of “Hybridity” (Eyal 2006), and “crossing” (Rampton 2005) is utilized to aid me in this investigation. I also address briefly these authors translated works to English. How much is the publishing industry influencing the translation and marketing of these works?