The Colonial Harem (Theory and History of Literature)

This Provides A Commentary On Images, Specifically On A Series Of French Postcards Depicting Mainly Eroticized Scenes From Algerian Life Under Colonial Rule During The First Three Decades Of This Century (which Alloula Calls The Golden Age Of The Colonial Postcard). The Aim Is To Address, To Some Extent Create, A New Audience, One Capable Of Seeing Through The Immediate Scene Of The Images In Order To View The Machinery Of Colonialism At Work, Behind The Scene. Edward Said Has Cited The Colonial Harem As An Excellent Example Of The Kind Of Post-colonial Text That Open[s] The [western] Culture To Experiences Of The Other Which Have Remained 'outside' (and Have Been Repressed Or Framed In A Context Of Confrontational Hostility) The Norms Manufactured By 'insiders' And That [t]he Pictorial Capture Of Colonized People By Colonizer Is Made Intelligible For An Audience Of Modem European Readers (opponents, Audiences, Constituencies And Community). This View, By No Means Unanimous,) Is Nonetheless Roughly Accurate In At Least Its Most General Point: Alloula Does Intend To Bring The Outside Closer To The Inside And, In Doing So, To Reverse The Distinction By Presenting Not Only A Critique Of Political Capture, But A Counter-image Of Resistance As Well. The Orient As Stereotype And Phantasm -- Women From The Outside: Obstacle And Transparency -- Women's Prisons -- Women's Quarters -- Couples -- The Figures Of The Harem: Dress And Jewelry -- Inside The Harem: The Rituals -- Song And Dance: Almehs And Bayaderes -- Oriental Sapphism -- The Colonial Harem: Images Of A Suberoticism. Malek Alloula ; Translation By Myrna Godzich And Wlad Godzich ; Introduction By Barbara Harlow. Translation Of: Le Harem Colonial. Bibliography: P. 135. Frontmatter Introduction by Barbara Harlow (page ix) 1. The Orient as Stereotype and Phantasm (page 3) 2. Women from the Outside: Obstacle and Transparency (page 7) 3. Women's Prisons (page 17) 4. Women's Quarters (page 27) 5. Couples (page 37) 6. The Figures of the Harem: Dress and Jewelry (page 49) 7. Inside the Harem: The Rituals (page 67) 8. Song and Dance: Almehs and Bayaderes (page 85) 9. Oriental Sapphism (page 95) 10. The Colonial Harem: Images of Suberoticism (page 105) Notes (page 127) Selected Bibliography (page 135) A collection of picture postcards of Algerian women exploited by the French, this "album" illustrates a powerful analysis of the distorting, denigrating effects of their presence on Algerian Society.