List of Illustrations; Note on Language; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chapter One. Harem Travellers; Chapter Two. Empire, Nation and Culture; Chapter Three. Harem: The Limits of Emancipation; Chapter Four. Eroticised Bodies: Representing Other Women; Chapter Five. Contested Behaviours, Gendered Spaces; Chapter Six. Dress Acts: The Shifting Significance of Clothes; Conclusion: Commodofication, Time and Nostalgia: The Search for Authenticity; Bibliography; Index
The oppressed yet highly sexualized woman of the Muslim harem is arguably the pivotal figure of Western orientalism. Yet, as Reina Lewis demonstrates, while orientalist thinking has recently been challenged, Western understandings of Middle Eastern culture remain limited. This book presents alternative dialogues between Ottoman and Western women. Lewis examines, from the position of cultural theory, the published autobiographical accounts about segregated life of self-identified "Oriental" women Demetra Vaka Brown, Halide Edib, Zeyneb Hanum, Melek Hanum and Grace Ellison. Bringing he
