Woman's Body, Woman's Word: Gender and Discourse in Arabo-Islamic Writing

by Fedwa Malti-Douglas

Woman's voice and body are closely entwined in the Arabo-Islamic tradition, argues Fedwa Malti-Douglas in this pioneering book. Spanning the ninth through twentieth centuries and covering a wide range of texts--from courtly anecdote to mystical and philosophical treatises, from works of geography to autobiography--this study reveals how woman's access to literary speech has remained mediated through her body. Malti-Douglas first analyzes classical texts (both well-known works like The Thousand and One Nights and others still ignored in the West) in which the female voice, often associated with wit or trickery of a sexual nature, is subordinated to the male scriptor. Showing how early Arabo-Islamic discourse continues to influence contemporary Arabic writing, she maintains that today feminist writers of novels, short stories, and autobiography must work through this tradition, even if they subvert or reject it in the end. Whereas woman in the classical period speaks through the body, woman in the modern period often turns corporeality into a literary weapon to achieve power over discourse.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Professor Malti-Douglas began her career in Middle Eastern studies, producing nine books in this area (two chosen for singular distinction) and over 80 articles. She has served on many boards (including editorial boards) and received numerous fellowships and endowed lectureships, as well as the 1997 Kuwait Prize for Arts and Letters and the 1998 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Dean for Women's Affairs at IU. Professor Malti-Douglas has recently broadened her intellectual interests. Hisland (SUNY Press, 1998) is a satirical novel of the academy. Her most recent book, The Starr Report Disrobed (Columbia University Press, 2000), links the interdisciplinary area of gender, sexuality, and the body with that of American legal and political narratives.

Her current research includes work in Europe and Latin America as well as the United States, as it continues her interest in visual and verbal narratives. Professor Malti-Douglas was recently selected for membership in the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the country. She is only the fourth IU faculty member to receive this award. In the fall of 2004 she was inducted into the society with professor and author Noam Chomsky, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer. The American Philosophical Society was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743.

Currently, Dr. Malti-Douglas is serving as the Editor-in-Chief of a new four-volume Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender for MacMillian.

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