Fashioning the Modern Middle East: Gender, Body, and Nation

These essays explore the role of the (un)dressed body in the formation of the modern Middle East, focusing on gender representation, photography, dress, and visual culture. They highlight the struggles for gender and social emancipation, dress histories, and legal frameworks used to control the movement of gendered bodies. The book offers a rich picture of the historical period and cultural landscape, bringing dress and visual culture back into historical narratives. It provides valuable insights for students of fashion studies, Middle Eastern studies, anthropology, photography, and gender.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 01 July 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

In this groundbreaking collection of essays, renowned interdisciplinary scholars delve into the profound impact of the (un)dressed body on the formation of the modern Middle East. Through their insightful contributions, they unravel contemporary struggles over nation, gender, modernity, and post-modernity. The essays explore diverse topics such as gender representation, photography, dress, and visual culture, shedding light on the role of the visible elite body in campaigns for gender and social emancipation. They also delve into dress histories, recounting the experiences of early nationalist women and men, and examining the legal frameworks employed to control the movement of gendered bodies. The result is a comprehensive and richly detailed portrayal of a historical period and cultural landscape that reintroduces dress and visual culture into historical narratives of the modern Middle East.

Recognising the multifaceted nature of modernities, imperialisms, and regional experiences of post-colonialism, Fashioning the Modern Middle East offers a diverse range of theoretical frameworks that are invaluable to students of fashion studies, Middle Eastern studies, anthropology, photography, and gender. By presenting new primary material and re-interpreting existing sources from fresh perspectives, this book serves as an essential introduction to the crucial role of the dressed and undressed body in shaping the modern Middle East.

Weight: 654g
Dimension: 190 x 244 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350135215