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Barbo_Dissertation_Final_June 2015.pdf (1.78 MB)

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From Post-Cards to Stand-Up: Cross Cultural Representations of the Veil in France and the Maghreb

Barbo, Adrianne Marie
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6411-5371
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436979499

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, French and Italian.
Reductive ideas confining Muslim women to notions of the highly erotic, yet cloistered, have been perpetuated to the general public through the consumption of Orientalist material culture. Objects such as colonial post-cards and comic strips, and even music-cafes, have established harem images of Arab women as truth in Western cultural imaginary of the East. Today, a history of Orientalist stereotypes continues to shape many people’s ideas about Arab women. In recent months, Muslim women have become the most widespread target of hate crimes in France. Debates concerning the right to wear the Islamic headscarf in French public spaces, including those centered on the experiences of young, Muslim women, have proven to be circular and repetitive. Moreover, the motivating factors of most debates regarding the veil, such as legitimizing a certain conception of Frenchness, profit from a perpetuation of stereotypes that depict the veil as a form of female enslavement. Thus, Muslim women’s subjectivity is often superseded in conversations about the headscarf. This dissertation therefore examines how emergent and cross-cultural artists in France and the Maghreb may be able to represent the veil in a more nuanced fashion than traditional, political Manichean discourse. I consider how the double-cultural backgrounds and trajectories of a Moroccan-British photographer, a Cypriot-French rapper/writer, and a Tunisian-French comedian enable these artists to complicate both Muslim and non-Muslim behavioral scripts defining what it means to be an “authentic” Muslim woman as well as “authentically” French. I discuss how the work of these artists challenges spectators to expand and to question their conceptions of legitimate behaviors for a variety of things, such as Muslim women, Frenchness, and even rap and rock stars. Analyzing the implications of transcultural artistic creations, pro-active silence (silence as an act of resistance), and moments of (in)visibility (questioning markers of difference), I show how a group of artists has been successful in creating and governing narratives and discourse about veiled women. Using art as a medium of communication provides these artists a position of privilege, or enhanced opportunity for expression, with which to mock or to refuse to contribute to dominant, cultural discourse about Muslim women and the Islamic headscarf. Finally, I consider the extent to which the artistic genres in question are amenable to discussions about the veil. By re-appropriating artistic forms of expression, such as post-cards and photography, that were once responsible for the dissemination of Orientalist narratives of Muslim women, I show how artists are questioning and reclaiming modern narratives concerning Muslim women now circulating in mass culture. My examination of the reception of the artistic works studied is also revelatory of societal and political dilemmas linked to debates concerning French, national identity. Although these artists may not be able to solve identity problems for all French, veiled women, they have succeeded in offering an alternative perspective of the hijab that is slowly permeating hegemonic, cultural discourse.
Danielle Marx-Scouras (Advisor)
215 p.
Foreign Language
veil; hijab; Islam; France; Maghreb; Orientalist Discourse

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Barbo, A. M. (2015). From Post-Cards to Stand-Up: Cross Cultural Representations of the Veil in France and the Maghreb [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436979499

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Barbo, Adrianne. From Post-Cards to Stand-Up: Cross Cultural Representations of the Veil in France and the Maghreb . 2015. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436979499.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Barbo, Adrianne. "From Post-Cards to Stand-Up: Cross Cultural Representations of the Veil in France and the Maghreb ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436979499

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1436979499
858
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.