2018AlHarbyNAMPhD.pdf (1.36 MB)
Download fileVeiled Pearls: Women in Saudi Arabia in Contemporary Fiction
thesis
posted on 2018-06-15, 14:36 authored by Nesreen Abdullah Al-HarbyIn comparison to other Arab/Muslim women, Saudi women are underexamined and/or
often misrepresented. This thesis resists Saudi women’s obscurity and sheds light on
their struggle to overcome domination and achieve emancipation. It analyses Hilary
Mantel’s Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1988), Rajaa Alsanea’s Girls of Riyadh
(2008), Zoe Ferraris’s trilogy, Finding Nouf (2009), City of Veils (2011), and Kingdom
of Strangers (2012), and Alys Einion’s Inshallah (2014). The thesis examines the
significance of pre- and post-9/11 political and social contexts of representations of
women in Saudi Arabia, compares depictions of Western (English, Welsh, and
American) and Saudi women, and scrutinizes the effect of genre (the Gothic, the
thriller, detective fiction and Chick Lit) on representations of women in a Saudi context.
It draws on Arab/Muslim feminism to assess the degree to which the novels reproduce
or challenge prevailing discourses of gender and Orientalism. This thesis argues that,
through their employment of genre, the writers examined highlight women’s injustices.
It contends that, although the novels analysed indicate that white women are not less
oppressed than Saudi women, they provide an Orientalist representation of Saudi Arabia
as a fearful space. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that Alsanea is the only writer that
provides Saudi self-representation. However, she falls into self-Orientalism by
restricting her depiction of Saudi women to the social elite. This thesis sheds light on
Western representations of women in Saudi Arabia, broadens the very limited number
of feminist studies of Saudi women, paves the road for more studies of gender in Saudi
Arabia and provides much-needed material for international scholars interested in
investigating the lives of women in Saudi Arabia.
History
Supervisor(s)
Parker, EmmaDate of award
2018-05-04Author affiliation
Department of EnglishAwarding institution
University of LeicesterQualification level
- Doctoral
Qualification name
- PhD