Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque [Paperback]

Mohja Kahf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292743378 | ISBN-13: 978-0292743373 | Publication Date: 1999 | Edition: 1st

Veiled, secluded, submissive, oppressed--the "odalisque" image has held sway over Western representations of Muslim women since the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. Yet during medieval and Renaissance times, European writers portrayed Muslim women in exactly the opposite way, as forceful queens of wanton and intimidating sexuality.

In this illuminating study, Mohja Kahf traces the process through which the "termagant" became an "odalisque" in Western representations of Muslim women. Drawing examples from medieval chanson de geste and romance, Renaissance drama, Enlightenment prose, and Romantic poetry, she links the changing images of Muslim women to changes in European relations with the Islamic world, as well as to changing gender dynamics within Western societies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An insightful and provocative book. With an impressive knowledge of European literature from the medieval period to the mid-nineteenth century and in command of literary and feminist criticisms as well as Islamic history, Mohja Kahf unearths and revives conveniently forgotten images of Muslim women. This fascinating genealogyorelegated to oblivion, pushed in the footnotes, forced into invisibilityoreveals the evolving images of the Muslim women in the West." Farzaneh Milani, Associate Professor of Persian and Women's Studies, University of Virginia

Review

An insightful and provocative book. With an impressive knowledge of European literature from the medieval period to the mid-nineteenth century and in command of literary and feminist criticisms as well as Islamic history, Mohja Kahf unearths and revives conveniently forgotten images of Muslim women. This fascinating genealogy—relegated to oblivion, pushed in the footnotes, forced into invisibility—reveals the evolving images of the Muslim women in the West. (Farzaneh Milani, Associate Professor of Persian and Women's Studies, University of Virginia )

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292743378
• ISBN-13: 978-0292743373
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Women in Islam

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pre-orientalist representations of the Muslim woman, January 21, 2002

By 

Shaida-Raffat Nabi (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque (Paperback)

Kahf offers an interesting account of European representations of the Muslim woman prior to the advent of colonialism. Her basic thesis rests on the notion that the Muslim woman in medieval Europe is radically different from the muted oppressed narrative that emerges during European advancement. Hence, the Muslim woman is loqacious, sexually intimidating and vociferous, rather than in need of liberation, needing to be pacified and brought in to the European fold as the 'same.' This is understood to be inextricably linked to the prevailing geo-political relations of the time in which Islam exerted its power and actually posed a threat to a poor and peripheral Europe. This is a much needed line of investigation since many accounts have over-burdened the Muslim woman with orientalist accounts, whilst Kahf precedes this vision. The limitations of Kahfs thesis is that she is not able to make any connections between pre-orientalist representations that revolve around Crusadean rhetoric, and later colonialist constructions, the link between them is severed to support her thesis. It also does not consider that the sexually agressive trope she makes emphatic is perhaps another form of distorted Othering, one that is perhaps based on the notion of a European moral norm against the 'lewdness' of the 'Saracen/Muslim,'rather than one based on a Foucauldian knowledge/power thesis. Nevertheless, a good read for those interested in the nuances and specificities of a Medieval European representation of the Muslim woman.