Imagining Arab Womanhood
Subtitle: The Cultural Mythology of Veils, Harems, and Belly Dancers in the U.S.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: April 1, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780230604728
Subjects: Anthropology - Cultural; Ethnic Studies - General; Women's Studies - General; Social Science / Ethnic Studies; Social Science; Gender Studies; Sociology
Description: "Imagining Arab Womanhood examines orientalist images of Arab womanhood in the United States since the turn of the twentieth century, exploring, in particular, representations of belly dancers, harem girls, and veiled women. Through semiotic analysis, Jarmakani demonstrates that these images have functioned as nostalgic placeholders for pressing, yet unarticulated concerns about shifting spatial and temporal realities within the contexts of expansionism/modernization and imperialism/late capitalism. Calling these representations cultural mythologies, Jarmakani maps them onto dominant American narratives of power and progress, insisting on an analysis that understands them to be artifacts shaped by the interests of the American contexts in which they circulate. Imagining Arab Womanhood is a vital addition to conversations about representation, race, and gender."--Jacket.