Muslim Women and the Politics 

of Representation 

Jasmin Zine 

Abstract 

This paper examines the politics of knowledge production as it 

relates to Muslim women in western literary traditions and con­

temporary feminist writing, with a view to understanding the 

political, ideological, and economic mediations that have histor­

ically framed these representations. The meta-narrative of the 

Muslim woman has shifted from the bold queens of medieval lit­

erature to colonial images of the seraglio's veiled, secluded, and 

oppressed women. Contemporary feminist writing and popular 

culture have reproduced the colonial motifs of Muslim women, 

and these have regained currency in the aftermath of9/1 l. 

Drawing upon the work of Mohja Kahf, this paper begins by 

mapping the evolution of the Muslim woman archetype in 

western literary traditions. The paper then examines how some 

contemporary feminist literature has reproduced in new ways 

the discursive tropes that have had historical currency in 

Muslim women's textual representation. The analysis is atten­

tive to the ways in which the cultural production of knowledge 

about Muslim women has been implicated historically by the 

relations of power between the Muslim world and the West. 

Introduction 

Examining the production of knowledge related to Muslim women in his­

torical and contemporary texts allows for an understanding of the sociopo­

litical mediations that historically have informed these discursive practices. 
This is particularly salient with the revival of Orientalist constructions of 

Islam as one of the by-products of the 9/11 tragedy. The resurgence of 

Jasmin Zine is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in 
Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada.