Muslim Women Reenacting and Resisting Whiteness
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University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 The Ethics of Representation: Muslim Women Reenacting and Resisting Whiteness Haneen Al Ghabra University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Al Ghabra, Haneen, "The Ethics of Representation: Muslim Women Reenacting and Resisting Whiteness" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1272. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1272 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. THE ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION: MUSLIM WOMEN REENACTING AND RESISTING WHITENESS __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Haneen Shafeeq Ghabra June 2017 Advisor: Bernadette Marie Calafell ©Copyright by Haneen Shafeeq Ghabra 2017 All Rights Reserved Author: Haneen Shafeeq Ghabra Title: THE ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION: MUSLIM WOMEN REENACTING AND RESISTING WHITENESS Advisor: Bernadette Marie Calafell Degree Date: June 2017 ABSTRACT This study examines Muslim women’s performances and embodiment of White femininity. It addresses invisibility/visibility and problematic rhetorical constructs for re- securing and replicating White femininity, which in turn reasserts White masculinity as the dominant ideological structure in service of Whiteness. To be exact, the aim is to specifically focus on how Whiteness travels globally through Muslim bodies and subjects who speak the language of the imperialist and not the vernacular. This language of the imperialist is also the language of heteronormativity, class, and educational privilege. These intersections are not stand-alone categories but instead seep into one another in the service of Whiteness. The study performs an archetypal criticism, a method that examines controlling archetypes emerging from the Western Media. Three archetypes for Muslim women are identified in this study: The Oppressed, The Advocate, and the Humanitarian Leader. Through an intersectional feminist ethic the study concludes by offering further directions for understanding and naming moments when marginalized persons embody privileged identities. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the support of my advisor Dr. Bernadette Marie Calafell, who provided me with the tools to shape and grow my academic self. Her endless mentorship paved both my writing and my increased academic success throughout the PhD program. This dissertation would not have been possible without her. She has shown me what it means to be a true Social Justice Communication Studies scholar and for that I am forever grateful. I am also appreciative for all those on my Dissertation Committee who provided me with feedback that allowed my dissertation to flourish. These include Dr. Christina Foust who helped me shape my writing, Dr. Armond Towns who exposed me to the world of Fanon and Dr. Margaret Thompson who allowed me to voice the injustices of the Palestinians. I would also like to thank Dr. Josh Hanan for his mentorship, classes, and for exposing me to the world of biopolitics. I am also fortunate to have acquired another mentor in the field of Communication Studies, Dr. Marouf Hasian, who has provided me with unending guidance to the publishing world as an Arab scholar. Having an Arab mentor in the field has allowed me to further push my academic capabilities. I am forever thankful to him. Finally I would like to thank my parents Dr. Taghreed Al-Qudsi and Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra for being my academic role models. They exposed me to academia at a young age through pursuing their own PhD’s, and this has shaped both my writing and academic career. Finally, I want to thank my brother and sister for listening to my endless lectures on hegemonic masculinity. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 An Understanding of Ethics .................................................................................... 8 White Western Feminism ..................................................................................... 12 Chapter Two: Understanding the Postcolonial and Performance through Whiteness and Intersectionality ................................................................................................................. 22 A Post Colonial Overview: The Arab World ........................................................ 24 Intersectionality and Archetypal Criticism through Whiteness ............................ 37 Intersectional Feminism ............................................................................ 37 Postcolonial-Archetypal Criticism through the Rhetoric of Whiteness .... 43 Chapter Three: Malala Yousafazai: The Oppressed Muslim Woman and the Search for Agency .............................................................................................................................. 63 Whiteness, Colonialism and Saving Muslim Women .......................................... 65 Malala Yousafazai and the Performance of White Femininity ............................. 73 Performing White Femininity through ‘Terrorism’ and Education .......... 78 The Universality of Gender Oppression and the Rhetoric of Sameness ... 83 Romanticizing Power Structures ............................................................... 88 Disidentification ........................................................................................ 91 Malala: An Interview With Emma Watson .......................................................... 93 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 98 Chapter Four: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Advocate and the Rejection of Islam .................... 105 Hirsi Ali’s Rhetoric of Sameness ........................................................................ 109 Oppression of Women is Islam specific ............................................................. 110 Muslim Women are Subject to Domestic Abuse ................................................ 113 The Hijab is Oppressive and Monstrous ............................................................. 116 Arranged Marriages are a Form of Control ........................................................ 124 Hirsi Ali’s Denial of Racism ............................................................................... 135 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 138 Chapter Five: Queen Rania: The Humanitarian Leader and the Search for a Counter- Narrative ......................................................................................................................... 146 Visual Rhetoric ................................................................................................... 148 Queen Rania: The Humanitarian Leader Archetype ........................................... 150 Colonial Modernity and Royalty ............................................................ 152 Transnational Motherhood ...................................................................... 158 Heteronormativity: The Nuclear Family ................................................. 165 Whiteness and the Logics of Education .................................................. 169 Disidentification: Creating a Counter Narrative ..................................... 172 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 175 iv Chapter Six: Conclusion: The Search for an Intersectional Feminist Ethic ................... 180 Complicating the Matrix of Domination ............................................................. 182 The Implication of Agency for Muslim Women ................................................ 189 An Intersectional Feminist Ethic ........................................................................ 193 What does an Intersectional Feminist Ethic Look Like? .................................... 195 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 202 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: L-R: Princess Diana of Wales; Princess Margaret of Kent; Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco; Queen Rania of Jordan; Duchess Katherine of Cambridge; Princess Letizia of Asturias (“Bridal Dictionary”). .......................................................... 153 Figure 2: Whether she's stunning in traditional dresses, right, or dazzling in haute couture gowns, left, Rania has adopted a regal style befitting on a modern royal (London). ............................................................................................................ 156 Figure 3: Queen Rania of Jordan, A member of the UNICEF global leadership initiative for children, visits Cape Town (Salbi). ............................................................... 159 Figure 4: Concern: This afternoon Rania tweeted: 'The international community must support humanitarian agencies like the IRC and UNHCR for their tireless work in