Gendering Orientalism: Race, Femininity and Representation / Edition 1

by Reina Lewis

Overview

In contrast to most cultural histories of imperialism, which analyse Orientalist images of rather than by women, Gendering Orientalism focuses on the contributions of women themselves. Drawing on the little-known work of Henriette Browne, other ‘lost' women Orientlist artists and the literary works of George Eliot, Reina Lewis challenges masculinist assumptions relating to the stability and homogeneity of the Orientalist gaze.
Gendering Orientalism argues that women did not have a straightforward access to an implicitly nale position of western superiority, Their relationship to the shifting terms of race, nation and gender produced positions from which women writers and artists could articulate alternative representations of racial difference. It is this different, and often less degrading, gaze on the Orientalized ‘Other' that is analysed in this book. By revealing the extent of women's involvement in the popular field of visual Orientalism and highlighting the presence of Orientalist themes in the work of Browne, Eliot and Charlotte Bronte, reina Lewis uncovers women's roles in imperial culture and discourse.
Gendering Orientalism will appeal to students, lecturers and researchers in cultural studies, literature, art history, women's studies and anthropology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415124904
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/30/1995
Series:	Gender, Racism, Ethnicity Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	5.52(w) x 8.44(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Reina Lewis is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of East London.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Race — femininity — representation; Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Professional opportunities for women in art and literature; Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Gender, genre and nation; Chapter 4 Chapter 4 ‘Only women should go to Turkey’, HenrietteBrowne; Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Aliens at home and Britons abroad; Afterword Gendering Orientalism; Select bibliography; Index;

Editorial Reviews

'Surely the best kind of cultural study. Thoroughly engaged, passionate about its project, - Gendering Orientalism is fueled by the urgent need to rematerialize forms and peculiarities of modern power that have all but disappeared into what we take to be nature.

'An innovatory work, exceptionally useful for teaching ... an invaluable resource.' - Deborah Cherry, University of Manchester

From the Publisher