Sexually ‘Lecherous’ Muslims and Sexualized Women in Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina

Authors

Keywords:

Sherry Jones, feminist Orientalism, harem, bely-dancing, orientalised, oppressed Muslim women

Abstract

This study examines the feminist Orientalist conceptions and images of the contemporary American journalist and author Shery Jones in her first historical novel, The Jewel of Medina (2008). The text provides a context to unravel age-old Orientalist images and conceptions onIslam and Muslims. The article focuses on the literarty tropes of the ‘harem’, belly-dancing and dancing to show how the text in influenced by earlier Orientalist texts, perceptions and conceptions. Orientalism as a resilient and porous discourse is still alive and influential in the American novels that appeared after the events of September 11, 2001. These images and conceptions are repropduced and disseminated once again to stress the senuality, backwardnesss and the oppresive nature of Islamic Orintal culture and society. The reproduction of such disparaging images and depictions, the study concludes, hinder any serious attempt at cultrually understaning Islamic history and culture.

Published

2023-09-30

How to Cite

EL FIDA, B. (2023). Sexually ‘Lecherous’ Muslims and Sexualized Women in Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina. International Journal of Arts, Sciences and Education, 4(3), 28–43. Retrieved from https://ijase.org/index.php/ijase/article/view/271