Beyond harem walls: redefining women's space in works by Assia Djebar, Malek Alloula and Fatima Mernissi

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Bentahar Beyond Harem Walls.pdf (155.65 KB)

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https://doi.org/10.1163/156920809X449526

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10.1163/156920809X449526
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/24825

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Bentahar, Ziad

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Date

2009-01-01

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journal articles
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application/pdf

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Towson University. Department of Foreign Languages

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Citation of Original Publication

Bentahar, Ziad. “Beyond Harem Walls: Redefining Women’s Space in Works by Assia Djebar, Malek Alloula and Fatima Mernissi.” Hawwa, vol. 7, no. 1, 2009, pp. 25–38. https://doi.org/10.1163/156920809X449526.

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Subjects

Harems in literature
Women’s space in Orientalist art
Colonies -- Africa, North
Gender -- Africa, North

Abstract

Orientalist and colonial representations of harems have resulted in the association of North African women with domestic confinement. North African authors such as Assia Djebar (1980), Malek Alloula (1981) and Fatima Mernissi (1994), however, suggest that this view is biased. While focusing largely on Fatima Mernissi’s memoir, Dreams of Trespass, this article builds on these authors’ exploration of the various ways in which women of the Maghreb are portrayed, in order to provide a clearer understanding of the dynamics of women’s space in the context of colonial North Africa.