Women's Autobiography in Islamic Societies: The Ultimate Unveiling?

浏览一下任何主流报纸的畅销书排行榜，就会发现自传作为一种文学体裁是多么受欢迎。对自传的痴迷应该引起历史学家的特别兴趣，因为对于许多自传作家和读者来说，这是他们与过去接触的唯一手段。然而，其他学科的人对将自传作为一种文化现象进行研究的态度要开放得多。女性自传作为一种不断发展的文学形式，尤其吸引了性别问题专家越来越多的学术关注，它可以为改变自我观念、社会和政治话语以及国家、种族和性别认同的构建提供重要的见解。然而，这项工作的大部分集中在欧洲和北美的妇女自传上，只有一小群孤立的学者--主要是由这个网络聚集在一起的学者--讨论伊斯兰社会的妇女自传。他们的研究指出了这种材料的丰富性，特别是在恢复女性因面纱而经常隐藏在公众视野中的经历方面。尽管如此，在伊斯兰世界的地理和时间分布上进行比较将是一项全新的任务。该网络的目的是通过聚集已经完成对伊斯兰社会妇女自传的个人研究的15位学者组成的核心小组，促进跨学科和比较方法。在他们的辩论中贯穿着这样一个问题，即在将女性公开匿名理想化的文化背景下书写自己的生活是否代表着女性自我的戏剧性揭示：借用Farzaneh Milani(2007：220)的话来说，这是一次“终极揭幕”。第一阶段将评估小组成员使用的原始材料，以此作为思考术语和定义-或定义流派的一种手段。该项目的第二阶段，即“背景和建设”，将超越文本，审查特定的历史和地理背景。简单地说，是谁写的，为什么写，如何写，为谁写？第三个阶段将重新关注自传体叙事的内容，确定各种主题和副主题：从转变国籍和地区认同到母亲、家庭和性行为。由于这些主题暗示了作者选择呈现自己的方式，无论是有意还是无意，重点将放在“再现和身份认同”上。因此，该项目将吸引那些对女性历史、伊斯兰教和自传体文学感兴趣的人。参与者在学科方面非常不同，代表着历史、语言和文学、文化理论、艺术史和妇女研究。他们中有来自AHRC国际战略目标国家和地区的参与者，包括美国和南亚。其他国家代表研究领域的机构，即土耳其、阿拉伯联合酋长国和孟加拉国。该项目的核心将是三个主要的网络事件，重点是上面提到的主题，因为它们来自现有的文献。这些活动将在德克萨斯大学南亚研究所(2010年2月)、德里印度国际中心(2010年12月)和沙迦美国大学(2011年11月)举行。在这些会议之间，与会者将继续通过电子邮件进行讨论，并通过在项目网站上发布正在进行的工作和事件的新闻。他们将通过在大型国际会议上组织关于特定地区或自传体文学类型的小组讨论来接触更广泛的受众。结果随后将通过适当的学术论坛传播。

A glance through the bestseller list of any mainstream newspaper reveals the popularity of autobiography as a literary genre. This obsession with autobiography should be of especial interest to historians, as, for many writers and readers of the genre, it is their only means of engaging with the past. Yet those in other disciplines have been far more open to the study of autobiography as a cultural phenomenon. Women's autobiography in particular has attracted growing scholarly attention from gender specialists as an evolving literary form that can offer important insights into changing notions of the self, social and political discourses, and the construction of national, racial and gender identities. The majority of this work, however, has focused on women's autobiography in Europe and North America with only a small group of isolated scholars - primarily those to be brought together by this network - addressing women's autobiography in Islamic societies. Their studies point to the richness of this material, particularly in recovering the experiences of women so often hidden from public view on account of the veil. Still, to draw comparisons across the geographical and temporal spread of the Islamic world would be an entirely new undertaking. It would allow the amalgamation of individual case studies, while also highlighting the importance of historical and geographical context and the significance of disciplinary approach.The aim of this network, then, is to foster an interdisciplinary and comparative approach by bringing together a core group of fifteen scholars already completing individual research on women's autobiography in Islamic societies. Running through their debates will be the question of whether writing one's own life in a cultural context that idealises women's public anonymity represents a dramatic revelation of the female self: 'the ultimate unveiling', to borrow the words of Farzaneh Milani (2007: 220). A first stage will be to assess the source materials used by members of the group as a means to thinking about terminology and definitions - or 'defining the genre'. The second stage of the project, on 'context and construction', would move outside the text to examine particular historical and geographical context. In simple terms, who writes, why, how and for whom? A third stage will refocus on the content of autobiographical narratives by identifying various themes and sub-themes: from shifting nationality and regional identity to motherhood, the home and sexuality. As these motifs suggest ways in which an author chooses to present herself, whether intentionally or otherwise, the emphasis will be on 'representation and identity'. The project will thus appeal to those interested in women's history, Islam and autobiographical literature.The participants are incredibly varied in disciplinary terms, representing history, languages and literature, cultural theory, art history and women's studies. Among them are participants from countries and regions targeted in the AHRC's International Strategy, including the United States and South Asia. Others represent institutions in the area of study, namely, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh. At the project's heart will be three main network events focusing on the themes cited above as they arise from the existing literature. These events will be held at the South Asian Institute, University of Texas (February 2010), the India International Centre, Delhi (December 2010) and the American University Sharjah (November 2011). Between these meetings, participants will continue discussion via email, and by posting work-in-progress and news of events on a project website. They will reach out to a broader audience by organising panels on particular regions or types of autobiographical literature at major international conferences. The resultswill then be disseminated through appropriate academic forums.