Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, Art (Fine Arts)

This dissertation explores the images of the Middle Eastern and North African dancer, also known as raqisah sharqi, almeh, and belly dancer, and the role of Western and Eastern male artists in developing her persona. It argues that Jean-Leon Gerome, Oscar Wilde, and Farid al-Atrash position the dancer according to their own agendas and persuade the viewers to gaze at her to advance their art. Al-Atrash, however, enables the dancer to suggest elements other than her sexuality when she dances to his music. The artworks of these artists are examined through the theory of the gaze, the postcolonial double marginalization of women, and the discourse of Orientalism. The representations of the almeh in Gerome's paintings are also explored via methods of feminist art historians that advocate interpretation through the examination of cultural and political context. This methodology reveals the effect of the Middle East in the development of Gerome's realistic style and exposes his bourgeois inclination, which is similar to Ingres and Delacroix, in portraying nude women and prostitutes. Gerome's almeh complements the representations of Eastern women by other Orientalists. The exotic dancer also attracted Western women, who liked her freedom and at the time were demanding their rights in the early twentieth century. Consequently, these women forced the film industries to cater to their needs. In response, the silent cinema offered them Rudolf Valentino as a sheik to satisfy their emotional and sexual wishes and to restore patriarchal power. Such films portray destructive aspects of Eastern cultures and emphasize Western supremacy. Other films reveal the special circumstances whereby a Western woman is permitted to adopt the Eastern dancer, who represents the femme fatale, as her ideal. The Egyptian cinema imitates Western art and presents the early Eastern dancer as an Arab femme fatale. Farid al-Atrash changes this image by presenting Samia Gamal as an artist worthy of intern (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Buchanan (Advisor) Subjects:

BA, Oberlin College, 2010, Ethnomusicology

The analytical trope of "hybridity" has a troubled past in the social sciences. The careless adoption of scientific terminology without adaptation to cultural contexts can result in dangerous consequences for ethnomusicology. This paper challenges, and ultimately accepts, the efficacy of "hybridity" as a model for musical contact. Mindful of essentialization, post-colonial situations, and the perils of over-generalization, ethnomusicology holds sophisticated tools for examining local understandings of hybridity and the role that fusions play in shaping identities. Approaching musics from internal perspectives returns agency to musicians and listeners, liberating the local experience from the cloaking paradigm of "hybridity" as a strict and predictable function of globalization. This paper examines Tunisian conceptions of musical hybridity through two case studies: the French Jazz-inspired Tunisian ‘oud musician, Anouar Brahem, and the Arab-Appalachian band, "Kantara." Internal and external discourses of "Hybridity" suit the Tunisian soundscape. I demonstrate how intentionally hybrid musical projects (fusion and ma'luf in particular) inform and are informed by Tunisian cultural histories and identities. Describing "Tunisianness" is complex in a sovereign state only fifty-four years old and conquered by successive kingdoms, from the Phoenicians to the French. In Tunisia national identity thrives on inclusion and cultural layering. Pride and "authenticity" are often located in explicitly hybrid expressions, including music. Although anxieties of purism, preservation, and standardization have curbed some musical innovation, Tunisians connect deeply with fusion, hybrid musics that, for many, exemplify what it means to be Tunisian.

Committee: Jennifer Fraser PhD (Advisor); Charles McGuire PhD (Committee Chair); Alyson Jones PhD (Committee Member); Amy Margaris PhD (Committee Member); Zeinab Abul-Magd PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Middle Eastern History; Music