Commercial success and dominant narratives

There have been a slew of books published in the past few years in the US taking advantage of the renewed popular interest in the Middle East/South Asia because of the wars. I found the wildly popular book, The Kite Runner, problematic in its omissions.

Iranian American academic Fatemeh Keshavarz critiques Reading Lolita in Tehran, a particular favorite in the US and written by a woman who is apparently matey-mates with prominent neocons.

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Q: Both Reading Lolita in Tehran and Jasmine and Stars feature a photo of two Iranian women on their jackets — and yet they seem to convey very different messages. Tell me about your book’s jacket photo.

A: The cover of Reading Lolita in Tehran has caused controversy because it presents a cropped image. The full image depicts two young girls, involved in the election of the reformist Iranian President Khatami. The girls are reading a newspaper in anticipation of the election results. In the cover image the newspaper is taken out, leaving two young faces with downcast eyes framed by black scarves. The full and cropped images would send two very different messages about Iranian women to the reader. Critics have compared the book to its cover image because it also omits the aspects of the culture that show that Iranian women have agency and are actively improving their lives

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FKh: What are the broader implications of these publications? Colombia Professor Hamid Dabashi has called Nafisi one of “comprador intellectuals” who are in “service of the empire” [1]. What is your own view on this?

FK: First, I would like to make a side point. As the “the war on terror” gets bloodier, we – academics – have the privilege of staying in the safety of our classrooms and avoid controversial debates (together with our responsibility as public intellectuals.)

In a democratic society such as the U.S., where public opinion does impact foreign policy, keeping the public informed makes all the difference. Because of this, I do read Professor Dabashi’s writing with great interest and appreciate his candid contribution to the important debate surrounding these new Orientalist works.

Secondly, there is little doubt that as the European empire-builders were served by the writings of the original Orientalists, the neoliberal capitalist drive to aggressively reshape the glob is aided by the new Orientalist writing.

Having said this, I must avoid making the error that I criticize the New Orientalists writers for: claiming authority in all disciplinary domains. My training is not in social sciences but in understanding and explicating texts. True, texts are created and read in social/cultural contexts. But I can best speak of intellectuals in their role as authors.

By the same token, while I would not speculate on the intentions of these intellectuals, I feel comfortable to tell my readers in that the power of the New Orientalist texts should be taken very seriously as they frequently reduce the Orient to a dark and violent environment ripe for military intrusion.

Whether the authors intend for this to happen or not is almost beside the point. Their writings simplify and dehumanize entire constellations of cultures and transform them into easy and “legitimate” targets.

~ by Bq on June 16, 2008.