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The Arab As Spectacle: Race, Gender and Representation in Australian Popular Culture

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The Arab As Spectacle: Race, Gender and Representation in Australian Popular Culture The Arab as Spectacle: Race, Gender and Representation in Australian Popular Culture Paula Abood School of English Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of New South Wales NSW, Australia A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 20th September 2007 Word Count: 101,616 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Abood First name: Paula Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: English Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: The Arab as Spectacle: Race, Gender and Representation In Australian Popular Culture Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis, The Arab as Spectacle, is about representation. It is about the limits and the contradictions of representation. It is about the burden and the violence of representation. It is about the persistence of Orientalism and how the hierarchies of race and gender intersect with discourses on sexuality to inform and inflect the representation of Arabs in contemporary literary and media spheres of Australian popular culture. This thesis comprises two sections. Part One is a research dissertation that explores the strategies, devices and parameters of the representation of Arabic culture and identities through close readings of specific texts. This theoretical project inaugurates the second part of my study which takes up the question of the contradictions of representation through a collection of ficto-critical writings. Through these satirical narratives, I seek to expose and disrupt the hegemony of Orientalist representations that proliferate in English language literature and news media by bringing into focus the inherent paradox of representation, working within and against Orientalist representational traditions. In so doing, it is not my aim to 'correct' the Orientalist logic and imagery that I theorise in the first part of this thesis, but rather to undermine the spurious truth-value of Orientalist representations by deploying the literary weapons of satire, parody and irony. In this way, my fiction works to engage creatively and critically with the very tropes that I theorise in my research dissertation. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). 20 September 2007 P. Abood ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… …………………………………………………………… Witness Date Signature The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS Originality Statement 'I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged'. Signed ………………………………………. Date ………………………………………. i Acknowledgements I am indebted to many people for their support and involvement in the genesis and materialisation of this thesis. I particularly acknowledge the encouragement, guidance and critical support of my supervisors, Dr. Brigitta Olubas and Dr Anne Brewster, School of English, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales. As well, Professor Bill Ashcroft, Dr. Suzanne Eggins, Associate Professor Sue Kossew, Dr. Elizabeth McMahon, Dr. Shalmalee Palekar and Susan Price for their feedback and support over the years I have undertaken this work. Thanks are due to the many individuals who provided texts, books, and critical feedback for my ideas and theorisations. Thanks especially to all who have always encouraged me to pursue a more complex way of being in my work. I especially acknowledge my colleagues and friends in both the community sector and in the academy whose critical work in and support of social justice has inspired me to produce this work. I want to acknowledge my family who have always emphatically supported me in everything I do, especially my sisters and brothers and their partners and children, and my aunty Julie. I acknowledge my departed grandparents whose legacy has been to give us the spirit of a strong ancestry for especially difficult times. I dedicate this thesis to my parents whose commitment to and unconditional love for their eight children has provided me especially with the will and determination to produce work that I hope will make a difference. This is for you my most beloved parents. Salamaat ii Table of Contents Declaration……………………………………………………………...i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………...ii PART I Introduction…………………………………………………………….1 Chapter One: The Saga of Forbidden Love…………………….23 1.1 The Problem of Non-Fiction: Truth and Telling Stories……...……….27 1.2 Subjects and Reading Publics……………………….………………….....33 1.3 Discursive Dynamics of New Century (Neo)Colonial Feminist Narratives……………………………………………………...…..45 1.4 Woman-Native-Author: Performing the Native Informant……………56 Chapter Two: Female-Centred Orientalist Literature as Genre and Signifying Practices of Representation..........................68 2.1 Female-Centred Orientalist Literature as Genre……………..……......70 2.2 The Spectacle of Veiled Alterity: Fetishising the Muslim Other…...81 2.3 Frozen in the Desert: the Contemporary Predicament of the Arab as an Object of Representation………….………………….94 Chapter Three: Rape as Racialised Spectacle……………….119 3.1 Literature Review………………………………………………………….123 3.2 Representing Rape in the Public Sphere……………………………….127 3.3 Race, Ethnicity and Media Discourse: Cultural Practices of the Fourth Estate……………………………….……………………….141 iii PART II ……………………………………….……………167 Chapter Four: Exit Shaharazad c. 1991……………………...169 Chapter Five: The Disappearance of Dalia c. 1995…….……219 Chapter Six: The Saga of Sahara c. 1999……..……………269 Chapter Seven: Life without Hayat c. 2003…………………..310 Works Cited: …………………………….……………......362 iv Introduction All roads lead to the bazaar; Arabs only understand force; brutality and violence are part of Arab civilisation; Islam is an intolerant, segregationist, 'medieval', fanatic, cruel, anti-woman religion. The context, framework, setting of any discussion [is] limited, indeed frozen, by these ideas. Edward W. Said Culture and Imperialism 1993: 357. This thesis, The Arab as Spectacle, is about representation. It is about the limits and the contradictions of representation. It is about the burden and the violence of representation. It is about the persistence of Orientalism and how the hierarchies of race and gender intersect with discourses on sexuality to inform and inflect the representation of Arabs in contemporary literary and media spheres of Australian popular culture. This thesis comprises two sections. Part One is a research dissertation that explores the strategies, devices and parameters of the representation of Arabic culture and identities through close readings of specific texts. This theoretical project inaugurates the second part of my study which takes up the question of the contradictions of representation through a collection of ficto-critical writings. Through these satirical narratives, I seek to expose and disrupt the hegemony of Orientalist representations that proliferate in English language literature and news media by bringing into focus the inherent paradox of representation, working within and against Orientalist representational traditions. In so doing, it is not my aim to 'correct' the Orientalist logic and imagery that I theorise in the first part of this thesis, but rather to undermine the spurious truth-value of Orientalist representations by deploying the literary weapons of satire, parody and irony. In this way, my fiction works to engage creatively and critically with the very tropes that I theorise in my research dissertation. 1 I come to this task cognisant of the tension between resistance and complicity, especially aware of the problematics of representation in depicting subaltern experiences. As I have already stated, it is not my aim to normalise Orientalist clichés and logic, or in theorist Homi Bhabha's terms, 'to assess them on the basis of
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