Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings

Middle East women life writings have been downplayed for their oversimplified representations of female subjects as purely passive, submissive and unresisting. This article explores the allegation in three contemporary memoirs by Jean P. Sasson (1992) (the ghostwriter of Saudi princess Sultana), Z...

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Main Author: Asl, Moussa Pourya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/1/21719-78379-1-PB.pdf
id ukm-12896
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-128962019-05-12T21:49:56Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/ Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings Asl, Moussa Pourya Middle East women life writings have been downplayed for their oversimplified representations of female subjects as purely passive, submissive and unresisting. This article explores the allegation in three contemporary memoirs by Jean P. Sasson (1992) (the ghostwriter of Saudi princess Sultana), Zainab Salbi (2005) and Manal al-Sharif (2017) who recount similar observations on subordinated women’s daily experiences in phallocentric Arab communities, and whose stories have similarly been the subject of much controversial criticism. In the present study, I aim to examine the practices exercised by marginalized Arab women to destabilize the patriarchal status quo and redefine the established ways of being. To do so, I draw on Michel Foucault’s notion of counter-conduct, often associated with the issues of women and their socio-political and religious position, to identify acts of defiance that are exercised simultaneously with strategies of governmentality through practices of moral self-reflection, or what Foucault describes as the art of being governed differently. The article concludes that in creatively documenting their life stories and through tactical elements such as counter-history, counter-society and reversed obedience, the so-called passive women interrogate the totality of prevailing hierarchies of power, and resist against the unequal society as well as the operating practices of subjugation. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/1/21719-78379-1-PB.pdf Asl, Moussa Pourya (2018) Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 24 (2). pp. 194-205. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1096
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Middle East women life writings have been downplayed for their oversimplified representations of female subjects as purely passive, submissive and unresisting. This article explores the allegation in three contemporary memoirs by Jean P. Sasson (1992) (the ghostwriter of Saudi princess Sultana), Zainab Salbi (2005) and Manal al-Sharif (2017) who recount similar observations on subordinated women’s daily experiences in phallocentric Arab communities, and whose stories have similarly been the subject of much controversial criticism. In the present study, I aim to examine the practices exercised by marginalized Arab women to destabilize the patriarchal status quo and redefine the established ways of being. To do so, I draw on Michel Foucault’s notion of counter-conduct, often associated with the issues of women and their socio-political and religious position, to identify acts of defiance that are exercised simultaneously with strategies of governmentality through practices of moral self-reflection, or what Foucault describes as the art of being governed differently. The article concludes that in creatively documenting their life stories and through tactical elements such as counter-history, counter-society and reversed obedience, the so-called passive women interrogate the totality of prevailing hierarchies of power, and resist against the unequal society as well as the operating practices of subjugation.
format Article
author Asl, Moussa Pourya
spellingShingle Asl, Moussa Pourya
Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
author_facet Asl, Moussa Pourya
author_sort Asl, Moussa Pourya
title Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
title_short Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
title_full Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
title_fullStr Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
title_full_unstemmed Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings
title_sort practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in middle east women’s life writings
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2018
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12896/1/21719-78379-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:03:38Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:03:38Z
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