Beyond Orientalism: a Study of Three Arabic Women
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BEYOND ORIENTALISM: ASTUDY OF THREE ARABIC WOMENWRITERS A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THEREQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY SAMAH SAMIHELHAJIBRAHIM, B.A. DENTON, TEXAS MAY2007 TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY DENTON, TEXAS Date To the Dean of the Graduate School: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Samah Samih Elhajibrahim entitled "Beyond Orientalism: A Study of Three Arabic Women Writers." I have examined this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with a major in Government. Timothy K. Hoye, Ph.D., ~ r Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its accepta119e: Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © Samah S. Elhajibrahim, 2007 All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the love of my life, who occupies my soul, my heart and my mind; Who gives meaning to my lifeand on my path shines light, to my Palestine. For you Palestine, I decorated my heart to be your mansion; I gave you my soul to be your garden and my mind to be your handmaiden. And today I give you my work to be a fruitin your land taken. I hope that one day you rescue me frommy exile and plant me in your land. I would also like to dedicate this work to (�.J_., �.:i--"4) my Godsent, my friendand my partner, Bassil Kublaoui, whose kindness always goes beyond my dreams. His faithin my abilityto achieve my goals gave me the strength to surpass all obstacles. All of my academic success and achievements would have never been accomplished without him being there forme. I could not ask God fora better friendand loving, caring partner. Last, but not least, this work is dedicated to my parents, Salwa and Samih and my siblings, Rani, Rabie and Sally. From a very young age, my parents instilled in me the value of education and a love of lifelonglearning. I also dedicate to them the following poem by Susan Polis Schutz: I have gone through so many differentstages changing ideas and goals while searching for the right kind of lifefor me. You were always ready to help me at all times. It must have seemed likeI would never follow one IV straight path. Now that I know what I am doing and where I am going I can only show you my extreme appreciation for your support by being true to all the ideals and values that you tried to teach me. Thank you forever for standing by me. I love and appreciate you forever. I thank them fortheir prayers and their never-ending support and love. I owe them everything I have today and I knowthat I will always be in debt to them. Also, I dedicate this thesis in loving memory of my uncle, Assad, who encouraged me when I was 12 years old to be independent and voice my opinion. V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to my Master's thesis committee, Dr. Jim Alexander, Dr. Timothy Hoye and Dr. Paul Travis for agreeing to be on my committee and taking the time to read and advise me on my thesis. I owe a very special thanks to my Sensei Dr. Timothy Hoye, forgiving me opportunities to further my knowledge. He guided me beyond the corruption of ideologies and taught me to strive for the higher aspects of humanity, "the Good" and to exercise my imagination. I very much appreciate the freedom he gave me to develop my ideas. His appreciation and respect formy culture and my civilization and his embrace of the Japanese civilization showed me that civilizations do not clash unless we want them to. I also thank Texas Woman's University for having such professors who devote their knowledge to their students. Finally, I would like to thank my partner again for he has shared my happiness and my frustration throughout this entire journey. vi ABSTRACT SAMAH SAMIH ELHAJIBRAHIM BEYOND ORIENTALISM: A STUDY OF THREE ARABIC WOMEN WRITERS MAY2007 In 1978, Edward Said, a Palestinian-American literary theorist, published his famous book, Orienta/ism. The book was an attack on the concepts of "Orient" and "Occident". Said described orientalism as a discourse that helped the West colonize the East. Recent events such as the illegal occupation of Iraq, the war on Afghanistan and U.S. interference in Lebanese affairs, all helped to bring orientalism to the fore. Today, some Arab scholars are questioning if orientalism actually ended. This study argues that orientalism did not vanish but has simply taken on a new form. The aim of this thesis is to study Edward Said' s theory of orientalism and examine his notion that literary production provides the raw material of politics. To examine orientalism and colonialism in the Arab world, I use novels written by three Arab women writers (Fadia Faqir, Pillars of Salt; Yasmin Zahran, A Beggar at Damascus Gate; and Ahlam Mosteghanemi, Memoryin the Flesh). The novels are used as tools with which to build the thesis that orientalism and colonialism continue, largely unchanged, and formthe basis for the troubled relationship between the Westernworld and the Arab world. I argue that orientalist discourse still functionsto justifyand perpetuate the political, economic and vii military hegemony. This thesis also highlights the solutions introduced by Edward Said and the three novelists in order to move beyond orientalism and colonialism. By using novels to examine Edward Said's theory of orientalism, this thesis provides a twofoldcontribution to the field. First, it provides an example of how novels can be used to study social and political phenomena and how novelists are political thinkers who raise the consciousness of the society. Second, this thesis demonstrateshow the study of the literature of other cultures can provide the reader with the opportunityto make a place in their mind for a foreign"other." Unlike the media which have the tendency to magnify the differencesbetween cultures, novelists focuson the humanity of the characters, thus diminishing the differencesbetween the reader and the character and providing the reader with light that illuminates, otherwiseinvisible problems. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page COPYRIGHT .............................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: ORIENTALISM, COLONIALISM AND THE NOVELIST AS POLITICAL ANALYST ....................................................................................... 1 · Novelists as Political Thinkers ............................................................................ I Orientalism .......................................................................................................... 3 Arab Scholarshipon Orientalism ........................................................................ 6 Anouar Abdel-Malek ................................................................................ 6 Edward Said ............................................................................................... 9 Orientalism, the Intellectual Wing of Colonialism ........................................... 17 II. HOW ORIENTALISTS SPIN ARAB HISTORY ................................................ 20 The Political Landscape of the 1920s ............................................................... 20 A Feminist Vision ofOrientalism ..................................................................... 27 The Storyteller as a Neo-orientalist .................................................................. 28 Western Colonialization as Rape ...................................................................... 33 ArabIdentity and Dignity................. .- ............................................................... 34 III. OPENING THE GATE THROUGH DIALOGUE .............................................. 37 The Gate to Palestine ................................................· ........................................ 37 Only Palestine is Real ............ : .......................................................................... 38 N akba: The Palestinian Catastrophe ................................................................. 40 Rayya and Alex: The East and the West................... ........................................ 45 ix Alex, the Face of Orientalism ........................................................................... 49 Rayya, Palestine's Banner ................................................................................. 52 Mr. Foster: Fostering Hope ............................................................................... 54 IV. DECOLONIZING THE ARAB MIND ............................................................... 57 The Algerian Sun ............................................ � ........... :................... .................. 57 The Algerian Struggle forLiberty .................................................................... 59 Exposing the Ravages of Colonialism .............................................................. 65 Society Deformedby Colonialization ............................................................... 67 Khalid and Ahlam: Intergenerational Dialogue ................................................ 71 Colors and Ideologies