Synopses & Reviews
Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices brings together for the first time a selection of trailblazing essays by Ella Shohat, an internationally renowned theorist of postcolonial and cultural studies of Iraqi-Jewish background. Written over the past two decades, these twelve essaysandmdash;some classic, some less known, some newandmdash;trace a powerful intellectual trajectory as Shohat rigorously teases out the consequences of a deep critique of Eurocentric epistemology, whether to rethink feminism through race, nationalism through ethnicity, or colonialism through sexuality.
Shohatandrsquo;s critical method boldly transcends disciplinary and geographical boundaries. She explores such issues as the relations between ethnic studies and area studies, the paradoxical repercussions for audio-visual media of the andldquo;graven imagesandrdquo; taboo, the allegorization of race through the refiguring of Cleopatra, the allure of imperial popular culture, and the gender politics of medical technologies. She also examines the resistant poetics of exile and displacement; the staging of historical memory through the commemorations of the two 1492s, the anomalies of the andldquo;nationalandrdquo; in Zionist discourse, the implications of the hyphen in the concept andldquo;Arab-Jew,andrdquo; and the translation of the debates on orientalism and postcolonialism across geographies. Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices not only illuminates many of the concerns that have animated the study of cultural politics over the past two decades; it also points toward new scholarly possibilities.
Review
andldquo;Ella Shohatandrsquo;s writing explores the volatile border regions where feminist theory meets anticolonial thought and where the politics of culture encounters the powers of imperialist reason. What she writes is important, inspiring, and fearless.andrdquo;andmdash;Timothy Mitchell, author of Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity
Review
andldquo;Amplitude, in both scope and wavelength, is the operative word for these essays. Each essay breaks out a cascade of examplesandmdash;the sheer wealth of citation alone makes this volume exceptional. Its vibrant combination of skepticism and generosity is Ella Shohatandrsquo;s trademark.andrdquo;andmdash;Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation
Review
andldquo;From her keen observations about the politics of knowledge production in the U.S. university, to her canny elucidation of the gendered geographies of colonial cinema, to her critical engagements with post-Zionist discourse, Ella Shohatandrsquo;s bold intelligence is unparalleled. This volume collects her key interventions that have shaped and illuminated the debates we have come to know as multiculturalism, postcolonial discourse, and transnational feminism.andrdquo;andmdash;Lisa Lowe, coeditor of The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital
Review
andldquo;[T]he collection functions as a window onto the issues and dilemmas confronted by an interdisciplinary cultural studies since the late 1980s, namely, the concerns raised by multiculturalism, transnational feminism, diaspora, and postcolonialism. However, the larger accomplishment of the volume is that it reveals a pioneering mode of cultural criticism that may be definitively viewed as a andlsquo;post-orientalistandrsquo; practice of knowledge. . . . As an essayist, [Shohat] has a knack for constructing a platform of inquiry through a prism of complexities and interrelationships, and for scrutinizing a given phenomenon of culture along multiple axes, investments, and stakes. These qualities make this a valuable book, and we may hope that more from Shohat is in the works.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Since September 11, public discourse has often been framed in terms of absolutes: an age of innocence gives way to a present under siege, while the United States and its allies face off against the Axis of Evil. This special issue of
Social Text aims to move beyond these binaries toward thoughtful analysis. The editors argue that the challenge for the Left is to develop an antiterrorism stance that acknowledges the legacy of U.S. trade and foreign policy as well as the diversity of the Muslim faith and the dangers presented by fundamentalism of all kinds.
Examining the strengths and shortcomings of area, race, and gender studies in the search for understanding, this issue considers cross-cultural feminism as a means of combating terrorism; racial profiling of Muslims in the context of other racist logics; and the homogenization of dissent. The issue includes poetry, photographic work, and an article by Judith Butler on the discursive space surrounding the attacks of September 11. This impressive range of contributions questions the meaning and implications of the events of September 11 and their aftermath.
Contributors. Muneer Ahmad, Meena Alexander, Lopamudra Basu, Judith Butler, Zillah Eisenstein, Stefano Harney, Randy Martin, Rosalind C. Morris, Fred Moten, Sandrine Nicoletta, Yigal Nizri, Jasbir K. Puar, Amit S. Rai, Ella Shohat, Ban Wang
Synopsis
Essays by a leading post-colonial theorist on topics including gender, diaspora, film and Israel.
About the Author
“Amplitude, in both scope and wavelength, is the operative word for these essays. Each essay breaks out a cascade of examples—the sheer wealth of citation alone makes this volume exceptional. Its vibrant combination of skepticism and generosity is Ella Shohat’s trademark.”—Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation“Ella Shohat’s writing explores the volatile border regions where feminist theory meets anticolonial thought and where the politics of culture encounters the powers of imperialist reason. What she writes is important, inspiring, and fearless.”—Timothy Mitchell, author of Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity“From her keen observations about the politics of knowledge production in the U.S. university, to her canny elucidation of the gendered geographies of colonial cinema, to her critical engagements with post-Zionist discourse, Ella Shohat’s bold intelligence is unparalleled. This volume collects her key interventions that have shaped and illuminated the debates we have come to know as multiculturalism, postcolonial discourse, and transnational feminism.”—Lisa Lowe, coeditor of The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital
Table of Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Gendered Cartographies of Knowledge: Area Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Postcolonial Studies 1
Gender and the Culture of Empire: Toward a Feminist Ethnography of the Cinema 17
Sacred Word, Profane Image: Theologies of Adaption 70
The Cinema after Babel: Language, Difference, Power (with Robert Stam) 106
andldquo;Lasers for Ladiesandrdquo;: Endo Discourse and the Inscriptions of Science 139
Disorienting Cleopatra: A Modern Trope of Identity 166
Taboo Memories, Diasporic Visions: Columbus, Palestine, and Arab-Jews 201
Notes on the andldquo;Post-Colonialandrdquo; 233
Post-Fanon and the Colonial: A Situational Diagnosis 250
Post-Third Worldist Culture: Gender, Nation, and the Cinema 290
Rupture and Return: Zionist Discourse and the Study of Arab-Jews 330
The andldquo;Postcolonialandrdquo; in Translation: Reading Edward Said between English and Hebrew 359
Index 385