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Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature
Black And White Memories: Re-Inscription Of Visual Orientalism In Embroideries, Esmaeil Zeiny
Black And White Memories: Re-Inscription Of Visual Orientalism In Embroideries, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
In the aftermath of the tragedies of 9/11, the West began to represent the East in a darker way. The western mass media, and the art and literary markets are riddled with visual discourses that consolidate the stereotypical representation of the Orient. One of these visual discourses which strengthen the stereotypes is the portrayals of Eastern women. Almost without exception, the whole mass media use images of eastern veiled women either as victim or lecherous to bolster its East/West demarcation. These sorts of images can be found in some contemporary Muslim women’s works as well. By examining the history of …
Researching The Muslim Diaspora: Towards Developing New Approaches Of Reading, Esmaeil Zeiny
Researching The Muslim Diaspora: Towards Developing New Approaches Of Reading, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
This paper discusses the current postgraduate level research into the corpus of Muslim Diaspora at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics which reflects the increasing interests into the corpus by students from within and outside the country. The first research focuses on minority Muslim women writers who reside in different host countries: Standing Alone by Indian American, Asra Q. Nomani, We are a Muslim, Please by Pakistani British, Zaiba Malik and The Land of Invisible Strangers by Pakistani British, Qanta A. Ahmed. In these narratives the Muslim women’s selves often face competing binary discourses of Islam and the West/Orientalism. …
Muslim Women’S Memoirs: Disclosing Violence Or Reproducing Islamophobia?, Esmaeil Zeiny
Muslim Women’S Memoirs: Disclosing Violence Or Reproducing Islamophobia?, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
As an upshot of 9/11, the literary market in the West saw a proliferation in writings by and about Muslim women. Many of these works are memoirs which focus on Islam, a patriarchal society, and the state’s oppression on women. These Muslim women memoirists take the western readers into a journey of unseen and unheard events of their private lives which is apparently of great interest for the westerners. Some of these memoirs, which reveal the atrocities and hardships of living in a Muslim society under oppressive Islamic regimes, are fraught with stereotypes and generalizations. Utilizing Gillian Whitlock’s theory of …
Bearers Of Culture: Images Of Veiling In Marjane Satrapi’S Persepolis, Esmaeil Zeiny
Bearers Of Culture: Images Of Veiling In Marjane Satrapi’S Persepolis, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
Much ink has been spilled on the history of veiling, reveiling, and unveiling in various parts of the Muslim world, particularly in Iran. However, little mention is given in most scholarly works as to how it affects women and its ramifications in society. By examining the history of veiling in Iran and the study of veiling as represented in Marjane Satrapi’s memoir, Persepolis, this paper sheds light on the ramifications of forced unveiling and veiling, and it also enlightens the readers to how the Iranian women became the yardstick with which the country’s progress is measured. We argue that the …
Re-Orientalisation And The Pursuit Of Ecstasy: Remembering Homeland In Prisoner Of Tehran, Esmaeil Zeiny
Re-Orientalisation And The Pursuit Of Ecstasy: Remembering Homeland In Prisoner Of Tehran, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
The Western literary market is saturated with the Middle Eastern women memoirs since 9/11. What caused this saturation lies in the curiosity of the West to know about the Middle Easterners after 9/11 and the following President Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ speech addressed to Iran, North Korea and Iraq, followed by launching his ‘war on terror’ project. This was the time when an influx of memoirs by and about Iranian women has emerged. This paper examines Marina Nemat’s memories of her birthland in her memoir, Prisoner of Tehran. Utilizing Dabashi’s concept of ‘native informer’, Bhabha’s concept of ‘stereotypical representation’ and …
Critical Pedagogy Of A Post-9/11 Muslim Memoir, Esmaeil Zeiny
Critical Pedagogy Of A Post-9/11 Muslim Memoir, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
Traditional education of literature would do injustice to both students and the discipline in this age of globalization. This is the era when teachers should use critical pedagogy to teach any genre of literature. Nowadays, a great number of memoirs form the Middle East perpetuate Islamophobia; yet some of them are taught at schools in the West. Perpetrating and perpetuating Islamophobia, as a trait of globalization, can be seen in some Iranian diasporic writings as well. This paper examines Persepolis: The story of a childhood, a diasporic Iranian memoir that is included in the educational curriculum of some Western schools. …
Orientalisation Through Paratexts: The Covers Of Muslim Memoirs, Esmaeil Zeiny
Orientalisation Through Paratexts: The Covers Of Muslim Memoirs, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
The influx of memoirs by and about Iranian women has saturated the post-9/11 Western literary market. These memoirs, which emerged after 9/11 and the President Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ speech addressed to Iran, North Korea and Iraq, are written to quench the curiosity of the Western readers. However many of these memoirists have adopted Western Orientalism framework in writing their discourse. They use the Iranian psyche, people, culture and religious worlds to reproduce the Western bias against the ‘Other.’ This portrayal of Western Orientalism ‘otherness’, which oftentimes begins right from the covers of the memoirs, can be called orientalisation through …
A Brown Skin Writer As An Imperialistic Native Informer: Remembering The Homeland In Reading Lolita In Tehran, Esmaeil Zeiny
A Brown Skin Writer As An Imperialistic Native Informer: Remembering The Homeland In Reading Lolita In Tehran, Esmaeil Zeiny
Esmaeil Zeiny
Largely neglected throughout the 1980s and 1990s, in the post-revolution period, Iranian immigrant women writers have become important to a growing Western readership. One of the most striking features of this emerging literature is its obsession with the personal and collective past, which has translated into the dominance of the memoir as a genre. For the last few decades, these women in exile have been creating a literature engaged with what have become the most suitable topics of the day: immigration, exile, religious fundamentalism and women‟s right (Darznik, 2008). Through memoirs, they were able to voice their political and ideological …