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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.
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Excavating Orientalist Images
of Arab Womanhood 1
1 Traveling Orientalism: U.S. Echoes
of a French Tradition 27
2 Dancing the Hootchy Kootchy: The Rhythms
and Contortions of American Orientalism 63
3 Selling Little Egypt: The Commodification
of Arab Womanhood 103
4 Veiled Intentions: The Cultural Mythology
of Veils, Harems, and Belly Dancers in the Service
of Empire, Security, and Globalization 139
Conclusion 185
Notes 191
Bibliography 213
Index 229