Towards a Feminist Debate of Religion-Related Violence in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Authors

  • Mohammad Salem AlMostafa Al al-Bayt University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i4.1613

Keywords:

Arab (American) Feminism, Masculine Islam, Fundementalism, Structural Violence, segregation, Muslim Women

Abstract

This article aims at exploring Kahf’s feminist and intellectual critical position of masculine Islam, fundamentalist Islam, and their agencies that operate within Arab and Arab American societies to engender physical and structural violence against women, and hinder a harmonious relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim people, as reflected in The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. My arguments regarding Kahf’s communication of these forms of Islam will be developed in light of Arab (Muslim) feminists such as Leila Ahmad, Fatima Mernessi, Mai Ghoussoub, among others. Said’s views, in Covering Islam, about Islam in Western consciousness, together with liberal Muslim scholars, such as John Eposito and Amber Hague, will be also consulted in my analysis.

Author Biography

  • Mohammad Salem AlMostafa, Al al-Bayt University
    Assistant Professor of English Literature at Al al-Bayt University, Jordan. Doctorate in English Literature & Criticism (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA) in 2012. Six published articles on Shakespeare’s King Henry V, John Keats & Malik Ibn Ar.Rayb, Arundhati, Ishiguro, Renaissance Arab and British poets, & Feminist Politics of Location, El Guindi, and Shamieh. Research interests: Postcolonial/Feminist theory, Renaissance drama, English/Arabic poetry & Arab American literature.

References

Works Cited

Ahmed, Leila, (1992). Women and Gender in Islam and Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New York; London: Yale University Press..

Barakat, Hanem, et al. (2010). “Self and Identity in The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.” Retrieved May 2017, from https://www.femtales.com/self-and-identity-in-the-girl-in-the-tangerine-scarf-by-hanem-barakat-sura-al-assad-and-amira-jaradat/.

Amireh, Amal, (2011). “Palestinian Women’s Disappearing Act: The Suicide Bomber through Western Feminist Eyes.” In Rabab Abdulhadi et al (Eds.) Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging (pp.29-45). New York: Syracuse University Press.

Al-Hibri, AZizah Y. “An Introduction to Muslim Women’s Rights.” In Gisela Webb (Ed.) Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists in North America (pp.5171). New York: Syracuse University Press.

Barazangi, Nimat Hafez, (2004). Woman’s Identity and the Qur’an: a New Reading. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Esposito, John L, (2002). What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ghoussoub, Mai, (2005). “Feminism— or the Eternal Masculine— in the Arab World.” In Haideh Moghissi (Ed.) Women and Islam: Critical Concepts in Sociology. 3 (pp. 29-46). London; New York: Routledge Taylor& Francis Group.

Hague, Amber, (2004). “Islamophobia in North America: Confronting the Menace.” In Barry Van Driel. Stoke (Ed.) ConfrontingIslamophobia in Educational Practice (pp. 1-18) Trent: Trentham Books.

Ismail, Riham, (2017). “Narrative of Identity and Place in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.” Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://pamla.org/2017/proposals/narrative-identity-and-place-mohja-kahf%E2%80%99s-girl-tangerine-scarf.

Kahf, Mohja, (2006). The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.

Kahf, Mohja, (2011). “The Pity Committee and the careful Reader: How not to buy stereotypes about Muslim Women.” In Rabab Abdulhadi et al (Eds.) Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging( pp.111-123). New York: Syracuse University Press.

Khalefeh, Areen, (2016). “The Symbol of the Veil in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.” International Journals of Humanities. 6 (1), 155-160.

Ladicola Peter, and Anson Shupe (2003). Violence, Inequality, and Human Freedom. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Mernissi, Fatima (1987). Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Mernissi, Fatima, (1996). “Muslim Women and Fundementalism.” In Suha Sabbagh (Ed.) Arab Women between Defiance and Restraint (pp.162-168). New York: Olive Branch Press.

Mernissi, Fatima, (1991). The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam.Trans. Mary Jo Lakeland. NewYork: Addison-Welsey Publishing Company Inc.,.

Moghissi, Haideh, (1999). Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis. London; New York: Zed Books.

Said, Edward (1997). Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Vintage Books..

Downloads

Published

2019-04-15

Issue

Section

Article

Similar Articles

1-10 of 218

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.