Unveiling the harem : elite women and the paradox of seclusion in eighteenth-century Cairo / Mary Ann Fay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fay, Mary Ann.

Series:

Middle East studies beyond dominant paradigms

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Egypt--Cairo--Social conditions--18th century.

Women.

Mamelukes--Social conditions--18th century.

Mamelukes.

Harems--Egypt--Cairo--History--18th century.

Harems.

Households--Egypt--Cairo--History--18th century.

Households.

Cairo (Egypt)--Social life and customs--18th century.

Cairo (Egypt).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (354 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A history of elite women who were concubines and wives of powerful slave-soldiers, known as Mamluks, who dominated Egypt both politically and militarily in the eighteenth century.

Contents:

Reimagining the harem: from orientalist fantasies to historical reconstruction

Egypt in the eighteenth century: the transition from the medieval to the early modern

Slaves in the family: Islam, household slavery, and the construction of kinship

The Mamluk household: how a house became a home

Mamluk women and the Egyptian economy: a comparative perspective on women's property rights

The city as text: space, gender, and power in Cairo

The architecture of seclusion: in search of the historical harem

Everyday life in the harem

Changing the subject: gender and the history of the Mamluk revival

Epilogue.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780815651703

0815651708

OCLC:

822018655