Wives, Witches, and Warriors: Women in Arabic Popular Epic / Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Steinberg, Amanda Hannoosh, author.

Contributor:

Allen, Roger, 1942- degree supervisor.

Cobb, Paul M., 1967- degree committee member.

Ben-Amos, Dan, degree committee member.

University of Pennsylvania. Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Near Eastern studies.

Folklore.

Literature.

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Local Subjects:

Near Eastern studies.

Folklore.

Literature.

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 79-10A(E).

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]: University of Pennsylvania ; Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2018.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

This dissertation consolidates the known corpus of the medieval Arabic popular epic (sirah sha biyah) in order to examine the roles of its female characters and how they relate to power. Borrowing from feminist theory, the study takes as its organizing principle the categories of "power-over," "power-to," and "power-with," showing that how a woman is judged for expressing power depends upon how her actions fit into one of these three categories. Moreover, each expression of power tends to be connected to a woman's familial relationships: sexually available women are usually classified as expressing "power-over," while the nonsexual relationships of sisters and daughters exemplify "power-to." The character of the selfless mother represents the ultimate expression of "power-with." By comparing these characterizations to portrayals of women in religious, historical, and adab works also created during the Middle Periods of Islamic history, we can conclude that the modern perception of women being confined to the private sphere and thus invisible in medieval Arabic literary production is based on ignorance of their ubiquitous and complex roles in more popular forms of literature.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 79-10(E), Section: A.

Advisors: Roger M.A. Allen; Committee members: Dan Ben-Amos; Paul M. Cobb.

Department: Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2018.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9780438037250

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.