The Women’s Review of Books Vol. XXI, No. 6 March 2004 74035 $4.00 I In This Issue I Orientalist fears and fantasies, spiritual devotion, cultural preserva- tion, women’s oppression—the Muslim veil has incorporated these meanings and more, depending on who is wearing it, where, and when. Reviewer Nadine Khalil examines the ever-shifting imagery of the veil. Cover story D I Seasons just aren’t the same as they used to be now that you can buy melons, strawberries, or toma- toes year-round. But consumers, cooks, and producers may want to consider whether this kind of “global eating” is ultimately healthy—or good tasting. p. 7. I Women’s accounts of their incredible—some might say Iranian photographer Shadafarin Ghadirian posed her veiled insane—journeys in the Arctic and subjects with modern objects such as bicycles in Antarctic can inspire even armchair her 1998 series Qajar, from Veil. explorers, reports reviewer Judith Niemi (from next to a nice warm radiator, we hope). p. 10. The elusive veil by Nadine Khalil I Queer studies pioneer Eve Sedgwick, President Abraham Veil: Veiling, Representation and Contemporary Art edited by David A. Bailey and Lincoln—they have more in common Gilane Tawadros. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003, 187 pp., $25.00 paper. than you might have realized. p. 12. The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture by Faegheh Shirazi. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2001, 221 pp., $24.95 paper. I Two new books highlight the I experiences and writings of women eil, edited by David A. Bailey and gious/spiritual emblem is still assigned who are seldom heard from—those Gilane Tawadros, and The Veil contradictory values, including those of in prison. p. 14. V Unveiled, by Faegheh Shirazi, are sensuality, freedom of movement in the provocative attempts to unravel the poly- public sphere, religiosity, and oppressive- valent layers of meaning embedded in the ness against women. As Reina Lewis says I and more... veils draped over women’s bodies. The veil in the preface to Veil, veiled women often 03> is associated with fluidity, something that have to counter patriarchal and Western, is difficult to grasp firmly, an impression denigrating attitudes. “It thus remains a of ambivalence. This symbolic ambiguity matter of political and cultural urgency to of the veil is related to the difficulty of reconceptualize the economy of multiple clearly discerning a woman’s contours and gazes that filter through, slide off and 74470 74035 03 features from her silhouette in loose, flow- remake the veil.” PRINTED IN THE USA ing garments. The Muslim veil as a reli- continued on page 3 The Women’s Review Contents of Books Center for Research on Women Wellesley College 1 Nadine Khalil I Veil: Veiling, Representation and Contemporary Art edited by David A. Bailey 106 Central Street and Gilane Tawadros; The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture by Faegheh Shirazi Wellesley, MA 02481 (781) 283-2087/ (888) 283-8044 www.wellesley.edu/WomensReview 4 Letters Volume XXI, No. 6 March 2004 5 Karin Aguilar-San Juan I Dream Jungle by Jessica Hagedorn EDITOR IN CHIEF: Amy Hoffman 6 Karin Aguilar-San Juan I A conversation with Jessica Hagedorn [email protected] 7 Jan Zita Grover I Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market by Brian Halweil; PRODUCTION EDITOR: Amanda Nash [email protected] Local Flavors by Deborah Madison; The Penguin Atlas of Food: Who Eats What, Where, and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Martha Nichols, Why by Erik Millstone and Tim Lang; Food Politics: How The Food Industry Influences Jan Zita Grover Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle POETRY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: 9 Mandira Sen I The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Robin Becker ADVERTISING MANAGER: Anita D. McClellan 10 Judith Niemi I No Horizon is So Far: A Historic Journey Across Antarctica by Ann Bancroft [email protected] and Liv Arnesen; Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven; OFFICE MANAGER: Nancy Wechsler The Woman Who Walked to Russia: A Writer’s Search for a Lost Legend by Cassandra Pybus [email protected] STUDENT WORKERS: Nissa Hiatt, Martha 12 Heather Love I Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Ortiz, Bethany Towne EDITORIAL BOARD: Margaret Andersen I 12 Maud Lindsay I Two poems Robin Becker I Claudia M. Christie I Marsha Darling I Anne Fausto-Sterling I 13 Frieda Gardner I Two poems Carol Gilligan I Sandra Harding I Nancy Hartsock I Evelyn Fox Keller I Jean Baker 14 Patrice Clark Koelsch I Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison Miller I Ruth Perry I Peggy Phelan I by Paula C. Johnson; Couldn’t Keep It to Myself: Testimony from Our Imprisoned Sisters Helene Vivienne Wenzel by Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Facility EDITORIAL POLICY: 15 Leslie Brokaw I There Must Be a Pony In Here Somewhere: the AOL Time Warner Debacle The Women’s Review of Books is feminist but not restricted to any one conception of feminism; all and the Quest for a Digital Future by Kara Swisher with Lisa Dickey writing that is neither sexist, racist, homophobic, nor otherwise discriminatory is welcome. We 16 Carol Bere I The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad seek to represent the widest possible range of feminist perspectives both in the books 17 Andrea Hoag I Farewell, My Queen: A Novel by Chantal Thomas reviewed and in the content of the reviews. We believe that no one of us can speak for femi- 18 Enid Shomer I Open Slowly by Kate Light nism, or women, as such; all of our thinking and writing takes place in a specific political, 19 Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts I Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer social, ethnic, and sexual context, and a respon- sible review periodical should reflect and fur- Amy Hoffman I A conversation with abortion rights activist Merle Hoffman ther that diversity. The Women’s Review takes no 20 editorial stance; all the views expressed in it rep- resent the opinion of the individual authors. 21 Karen Malpede I Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day by Kaethe Weingarten ADVERTISING POLICY: 22 Rebecca Tuch I Curled in the Bed of Love: Stories by Catherine Brady; Blind Love by Mary Woronov Visit www.wellesley.edu/WomensReview to book an ad online; preview the current issue 23 The Bookshelf and classified ads; and download a media kit including display, classified, and line rates, sizes and shapes, policies, and deadlines. The Women’s Review of Books (ISSN #0738- Contributors 1433) is published monthly except August by KARIN AGUILAR-SAN JUAN is an assistant professor of volunteers as a meditation group leader at several Minnesota correc- The Women’s Review, Inc., 828 Washington American studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her tional facilities. Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Annual subscrip- foray into the Dream Jungle has somewhat alleviated being stranded MAUD LINDSAY lives in Rockland County, NY, by the Hudson tions are $27.00 for individuals and $47.00 for in the Great White North. River, where she works as a gardener. institutions. Overseas postage fees are an additional $20.00 airmail or $5.00 surface mail CAROL BERE, a freelance writer in New Jersey, has published arti- HEATHER LOVE teaches 20th-century literature and gender stud- to all countries outside the US. Back issues are cles and reviews in The Washington Post, The Literary Review, Boston ies in the English department at the University of Pennsylvania. available for $4.00 per copy. Please allow 6-8 Review, Southern Humanities Review, Critical Essays on Ted Hughes, Sylvia KAREN MALPEDE is a writer of plays and fiction of witnessing. weeks for all subscription transactions. Plath: The Critical Heritage, and in several financial journals. “About Oil,” the first chapter of her new novel, is forthcoming in the Periodicals class postage paid at Boston, MA LESLIE BROKAW was a writer and editor at Inc. magazine from January issue of Confrontation. A filmscript about Emily Dickinson, “I and additional mailing offices. POSTMAS- 1987-1999 and editor in chief of Inc.’s first website, which partnered Emily,” will star Calista Flockhart. TER: send address corrections to The Women’s with AOL in the late 1990s. She is now a regular contributor to The JUDITH NIEMI, director of Women in the Wilderness, leads Review of Books, Wellesley College Center for Boston Globe and Boston Magazine, and teaches magazine publishing at women’s canoe trips in northern places. She’s editor of Rivers Running Research on Women, Wellesley, MA 02481. Emerson College. Free, an anthology of women’s canoe stories, author of Women FRIEDA GARDNER’s poems have been published in Water-Stone, Outdoors: Basic Essentials, and many essays. She teaches writing work- The Women’s Review of Books is a project of The Squaw Valley Review and the anthology Close to the Ground. Her man- shops in Iceland and Minnesota. the Wellesley College Center for Research uscript, The Play of Origins, is in circulation. SHARIFA RHODES-PITTS is a 2003-2004 fellow of the George on Women. JAN ZITA GROVER grows, cooks, and writes about food from Washington Williams Fellowship for Journalists of Color, a program The Women’s Review is distributed by Total Duluth, Minnesota. Her essay “Motherfood” appears in the spring sponsored by the Independent Press Association. She is a contribut- Circulation, New York City, NY, and Ingram, 2004 issue of Gastronomica. She teaches a course on food politics for ing editor at Transition magazine. Nashville, TN. All other distribution is han- University for Seniors at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. MANDIRA SEN lives in Calcutta and is a publisher of two dled directly by The Women’s Review.