scholarly journals Not So Dangerous Liaisons: Interstitial Subjectivities and the Autobiography of Arab Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Samia Kholoussi
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
Arab Women ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Female Self ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
And Gender ◽  
A Site ◽  
Cultural Hybrid

This research re-examines “cultural hybridity” from an Arab female standpoint. The concept is widely researched in post-colonial discourse, and in texts of bi-cultural Arab women, it is re-envisioned in the light of the specificity of their experience. Amidst a maze of proliferating theories, the study utilizes critical discussions in post-colonial discourse pertinent to the central argument namely; what does it mean to be hybrid for Arab women, and how do they perform cultural hybridity in their autobiographical writing? This study sets itself is to formulate a framework that allows us to talk about Arab women’s autobiography in this context. It explores a space that would take into account ethnic and gender linked issues to investigate alternatives for Arab female self-identification in cultural hybrid contexts. For case study, I use Assia Djebar’s Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade (1985) and Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun (1992) as texts as growing out of, and emerging against the culturally hybrid reality in which the autobiographical persona finds herself; a reality from which these self -representations evolve and authors begin to tell their stories. The study yields inferences regarding the potential of interstitial subjectivities as catalyst for agency, and a site of resistance and subversion. Cultural hybrid reality, for Arab women, is a site of contested and complex identities. It opens up a playing field of performative contestation in which identity thrives in ongoing endeavor to reformulate the debates on assimilation, integration, and identity politics within such a discursive territory.

“Hamsun's Liminality”

Nordlit ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 237-251
Author(s):  
Soha El Samad
Keyword(s):  
Travel Narratives ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
Basic Argument ◽  
Practical Demonstration ◽  
Cultural Hybrid

This study seeks to establish the extent to which In Wonderland is a cultural hybridity discourse and a writing-back to Euro-American travelogues. In this ‘different’ travelogue, Hamsun’s voice cuts through the borderlands of the Russian colonized Caucasus region to reveal contempt for acquired culture and a rejection of global uniform identities in a manner that accords with Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘hybridity.’ While keeping in mind Hamsun’s undisputed parodic style, this postcolonial reading claims that mimicry, as applied by Hamsun, is a practical demonstration of Bhabha’s theory that reflects his propensity to destabilize the West’s monolithic stance as regards the Orient. It therefore reveals the manner in which his supposedly colonial discourse exposes the discriminatory nature of colonial dominance. Within this context, Hamsun has become a cultural hybrid who refuses to imitate conventional European travel narratives or follow in their differentiating paths. On the whole, the basic argument is that Hamsun’s travelogue which invariably asserts, subverts and removes boundaries, does not endorse Orientalism neither in its romantic nor in its subservient form.

“The cut and thrust of industrial relations” – bullying by another name?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Drake
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
University Leadership ◽  
Public Identity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Female Self ◽  
Emotional Work ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
A Site

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a feminography, that is a “narration of a female self in a feminist age” (Abrams, 2017) by presenting a conceptual analysis, derived from experience, of email providing a form of discourse – that the author calls finger-speak – through which unexamined gender positioning caricatures a person’s identity. In so doing, the paper provides an illustrative case of a female manager being positioned through email to “know her place, perform it and feel it” (Hey, 2011). Design/methodology/approach An analysis of email foregrounds “finger-speak” as a form of digital conversation and through which people in universities may be positioned publicly but without their consent in relation to unexamined norms and assumptions. For women, it is argued, these norms are ageist and sexist. In this paper, fragments of finger-speak are collated to provide a reading of how mixing gendered norms with apparent differences of opinion constructs, via unexamined sexism, a public identity and then undermines it. Findings Through the case presented, the author argues that, because of a shared but unarticulated shadow over women as leaders, email lays the ground for subsequent scapegoating in such a manner that the woman takes responsibility for structural challenges that rightly belong to the organisation. Originality/value The contribution that email makes to constructing female identity in public is new, complementing other work that publicly characterises women leaders, through film (Ezzedeen, 2015), and through published writing such as autobiography (Kapasi et al., 2016). Emotional work undertaken by women in university leadership is so far under-represented in public, and email is a site through which this work becomes visible.

Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader

1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
David Chioni Moore ◽  
Patrick Williams ◽  
Laura Chrisman ◽  
Bill Ashcroft ◽  
Gareth Griffiths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Theory

scholarly journals Women, Men and Gender Equality in Development Aid – Trajectories, Contestations

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Signe Arnfred
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Global South ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Development Agents ◽  
Popular Images ◽  
Global War

Women, men and gender equality in development aid - trajectories, contestations. The Beijing Platform for Action introduced notions of gender equality, which have been picked up by donors and development agents in increasingly popular images of strong enterprising women, however with an emphasis on economic entrepreneurship, disregarding aspects of care- and motherwork. At the same time ‘colonial feminism' is still around, with its notions of women in the global South as oppressed under ‘tradition' but rescued by development and ‘modernity'. Such images have been re-invigorated in the global War on Terror, from 2001 onwards. The article investigates implications of these different but co-existing images of women in development contexts. It also discusses limitations of notions of gender equality, when used by donors and by women's organizations, and when discussed and critizised by post-colonial feminists.

scholarly journals Fashioning the Post Colonial Reading: Cultural Representations In Vogue Mexico and Latin America and Arabia Editorials

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyne Alphonso
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Editorial Content ◽  
Visual Narratives ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
And Gender

This study analyzes regional editorial content as produced by Vogue magazine. Vogue has developed an empire comprised of 22 international editions. Vogue Mexico & Latin America, and Vogue Arabia, are the only two editions that encompass numerous countries, cultures, and voices. Using discourse analysis through a cultural studies lens, this study analyzes six editorial spreads to uncover what cultural messages are being produced, how these images impact national identities, and who is or is not represented in the fashion image. Intersections of fashion with culture, identity, race, and gender, are analyzed through critical discourse analysis to address constructions of power, specifically within a cultural and postcolonial framework. Visual narratives in Vogue Arabia and Vogue Mexico & Latin America reflect values seemingly distinct to their region, but are charged with cultural assumptions and inaccuracies. For postcolonial cultures vying for identities independent of their colonial past, these marketable stereotypes continue to suppress their structural agency.

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