The 'Voice' of Afghanistan: A Look at Feminist and Anti-Feminist Messages in Middle Eastern Memoirs

• In Event: Voice, Hegemony and Gendered Identities

Abstract

This paper examines the feminist and anti-feminist messages present in Deborah Rodriguez's memoir Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil. I argue that while the author and her message contain recognizable tenants of a feminist ideology, the feminist potential is minimized when she reinscribes colonial representations of Muslim Women. KBS is another example of a media text which is deemed feminist by the media yet has minimal feminist potential.

Author

• Kristen McCauliff, University of Georgia