ENGLISH

Rethinking Orientalism: women, travel and the Ottoman harem

By Reina Lewis

Book information

Publisher
I.B.Tauris
Year
2004
ISBN
1860647294, 9781860647291, 1860647308, 9781860647307
Google Books ID
QARxWEHt_KcC
Open Library ID
OL22603672M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
15 MB (15526434 bytes)
Series
Library of Ottoman studies 4
Pages
315\315
Orientation
yes
Scanned
no
Time added
2012-02-04 16:00:00

Description

The oppressed yet highly sexualized woman of the Muslim harem is arguably the pivotal figure of Western orientalism. Yet, as Reina Lewis demonstrates, while orientalist thinking has recently been challenged, Western understandings of Middle Eastern culture remain limited. This book presents alternative dialogues between Ottoman and Western women. Lewis examines, from the position of cultural theory, the published autobiographical accounts about segregated life of self-identified "Oriental" women Demetra Vaka Brown, Halide Edib, Zeyneb Hanum, Melek Hanum and Grace Ellison. Bringing her subjects vividly to life, Lewis uses these texts to challenge the Western orientalist stereotypes that have become commonplace within postcolonial theory.

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