Synopses & Reviews
Meyda Yegenoglu investigates the intersection between postcolonial and feminist criticism, via the Western fascination with the veiled women of the Orient. Linking representations of cultural and sexual difference, she shows the Oriental woman to have functioned as the veiled interior of Western identity. Her original and compelling argument calls into question dualistic conceptions of identity and difference, West and East, masculinist assumptions of Orientalism, and Western feminist discourses that seek to "liberate" the veiled woman.
Synopsis
Feminist and post-colonial examination of Western fascination with the veiled women of the Orient.
Synopsis
Colonial Fantasies examines the Western fascination with the veiled women of the Orient. It challenges dualistic conceptions of identity and difference, West and East, and questions the traditional masculinist assumptions of Orientalism and feminist discourses which seek to 'liberate' the veiled woman.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Mapping the field of colonial discourse; 2. Veiled fantasies: cultural and sexual difference in the discourse of orientalism; 3. Supplementing the Orientalist lack: European ladies in the harem; 4. Sartorial fabric-action: Enlightenment and Western feminism; 5. The battle of the veil: women between Orientalism and nationalism.