Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies

by D. Fairchild Ruggles (Editor)

The first to combine the study of representation, gender theory, and Muslim women from a historical and geographical perspective, this book examines where women have represented themselves in art, architecture, and the written word in the Muslim world. The authors explore the gendering and implicit power relations present in the positioning of subject and object in the visual field and look specifically at occasions when women publicly adopted the stance of the viewer, speaker, writer, or patron.

Contributors include Ellison Banks Findly, Elizabeth Brown Frierson, Salah M. Hassan, Nancy Micklewright, Leslie Peirce, Kishwar Rizvi, D. Fairchild Ruggles, Yasser Tabbaa, Lucienne Thys-Senoçak, and Ethel Sara Wolper.

Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few texts on architecture were a bit dry for me. The best parts were the examination of the costume of Muslim women and the representation of women within the publishing industry.

It seems that there is an interesting play on personal and private spheres in Islamic culture which is not seen in Western culture.