Arab-American Women's Writing and Performance: Orientalism, Race and the Idea of the Arabian Nights

Description

The public image of Arabs in America has been radically affected by the 'war on terror'. But stereotypes of Arabs, manifested for instance in Orientalist representations of Sheherazade and the Arabian Nights in Hollywood, have prevailed for much longer. Here Somaya Sabry argues that the Arab-American experience has been powerfully shaped by racial discourse and Orientalism, and is further complicated today by hostility towards Arabs in post-9/11 America. She shows how Arab-American women writers and performers confront and subvert racial stereotypes in this charged context by recasting representations of Sheherazade. Shedding new light on Arab-American women's negotiations of identity, this book will be indispensable for all those interested in the Arab-American world, American ethnic studies and race, as well as diaspora studies, women's studies, literature, cultural studies and performance studies. Cover Contents Preface 1. Sheherazade in the West: 'Sheherazadian narrative' as a Dihliz in the Diaspora A Diasporic Dihliz: Narratives that link us and spaces where we mingle Arab women's writing and Sheherazade Diasporic Sheherazadian narrative Orientalism and shifts perspective Sheherazade's 'borderly' feminism Sheherazade and sites of translation Sheherazade between narrative and orality 2. Why Recast Her in the West? Sheherazade and Race The 'Orient' and Sheherazade Openess and the evolutionary nature of Sheherazadian narrative Contexts and registers of translation American Orientalism The racial politics of being Arab and American post-9/11 Race and Sheherazade Sheherazade, text and desire Sheherazadian narrative and negotiating race in the Arab-American diaspora 3. Cooking Sheherazade's America: Tasting Arab-American Women's Diasporic Narratives in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent Imagining dispersed diasporic identities: Opening up the Arab-American diaspora Culinary narratives: Sheherazade's recipe for cultural negotiations The diasporic directions of Sheherazadian narrative in Crescent Situating a home: 'Hollywood' and 'Tehrangeles' Challenging racial purity: Miscegenation and the mermaid Alieph Resisting Orientalism through Sheherazadian narrative Reinventing The Nights: Sheherazade speaks Arab-American Going after Burton: How does the Sheherazadian narrative resist? Diaspora and inhabiting the dihliz in writing Newspapers, media and diasporic communities Who is translating and why? Crescent's cultural translation 4. 'Fabric-ating' Affiliation: Fashioning Scarves in Muslim-American Women's Diasporic Experiences E-mails and 'splintered' belonging Making a scene: 'Hijab Scenes' Fashioning a new hijab A synergy of scarves Odalisques between the mind and body An 'E-mail from Scheherazade' 5. Diasporic Articulations: Performing 'Sheherazadian Orality' Laila Farah and Hyphen-Nation Questioning categories: Unveiling stereotypes and dressing up Sheherazade's stand-up routine Laughter and resistance: Zayid's Sheherazadian orality Sheherazade between the pen and the tongue 6. Arab-American Literature, Performance and the Future Notes Bibliography Index