The most important idea or theme throughout this semester follows a somewhat similar train of thought as my first blog summary however, because of the inclusion of narratives of people from Eastern countries being exposed to the West it reinforces a new angle. Originally, I considered interpreting the first half of my blog posts as highlighting the unreliability the narrator/narratives and though it would be expected that I should not feel the same way in the 2nd half of the blog posts my sentiments remain unchanged. Rather, what has changed is the way in which the unreliability of the narrative has been constructed and though it does have much to do with differences between English traveler’s narratives and ‘Inquisitive Muslim travelers’ narratives another important idea is the gendered representation. Essentially, I argue that the existence of the male dominated accounts illustrate the unreliability of narrative because of the disregarding of female narratives, which not only controls perceptions of women but also forces the perpetuation of forcing the female gender into submission or invisibility.
This is how power is gained and maintained, by slandering the female narrative and restricting it, all freedoms provided to women can be interpreted as smokescreens for the reinforcement of male domination. We see this in the publication of Lady Mary’s letters, specifically because her education was stolen and even she held very male centric ideologies she asserted ideas which painted the image of liberties for Muslim women when discussing fertility which realistically has underlying implications that women are free if and only if they bear children. It can be asserted that there are themes of unreliable narratives because of the lack of female narratives since the only female narrative we do see still implies how power is gained for men every time men speak on women’s behalf and when women believe they have the freedom to speak and choose. Unreliable narratives in this case are the exclusion of multiple points of view which attempt to define the thoughts of other groups of people which not only limits perceptions of these people but also historically defines them as we see in contemporary studies. In my blog posts, I notice I never actively engage with the missing female narrative, because it has been erased so effectively that I cannot notices my own participation in the disregarding or erasure of women historically.
Transnational Encounters with Islam in 18th- and 19th-Century British Literature 
You go girl, girl power! I like the idea that you’re looking for things not in your posts and realizing that this is significant. I would probably talk about Abu Taleb specifically since he’s sort of writing poetry and talking about woman like they are property. Great idea!
I had to read this post a few times to grasp the main idea, as it did not seem to present itself in an overtly clear manner initially, but based on my understanding it appears that the main original idea is that the narratives we have read thus far marginalize women. Based upon the content of this post, women are silenced by the highlighting of men in the narrative, providing a contrast which makes women appear invisible. Based upon my understanding, the blog summary will attempt to dig deeper into the narratives we have read thus far to uncover the hidden aspects which are concerned with women, how women are hidden from view in the narrative and portrayed as secondary, and how women are controlled through narrative. I believe, assuming my interpretation of the post is correct, that this would be a good starting point for a clear and concise thesis.
This students blog summary is particularly interesting because they acknowledge what most students probably want to speak on (reliable narration) but shy away from because there are many different claims we can make about these texts for a blog summary. I like that they go on to look at “gender representation” and taking a second look into the glossed over (yet, incredibly important) female narratives within these texts. The last sentence was strong and will stick with me, when this student says that they hardly looked into the female narrative because it was erased so well.
I see a new topic not really been talked about too much this semester, “This is how power is gained and maintained, by slandering the female narrative and restricting it, all freedoms provided to women can be interpreted as smokescreens for the reinforcement of male domination.” I feel no one has stretched it out to reach this and have good elaboration. It brings up a new perspective and affects the reliability of the storytelling, which has been suppressed .
I really enjoy the ideas brought up in this blog post. I think the strongest one is how the dominance of historic, male accounts inevitably silences and rewrites what it meant to be a woman in their time. It reminds me about how, in close reading, the arguably more difficult point to address is what is missing from the text. Rather than look specifically at one text and pinpoint what should have been there, you addressed the whole and gathered a conclusion from it–a conclusion that I think is correct; the sheer scale of male narratives versus female narratives (at least, what was uncovered and popularized in the public eye) tips the balance in the patriarchy’s power.
Very insightful blog post! I felt the same way, how there was never a women’s interpretation, and when we did get a women’s interpretation it was shattered by her vision through a male’s gaze. Women were treated terrible during these times, and it hurts to see that even till this day women are still having their education, rights, and dreams taken away.
I think this post does a good job at being honest and clear about what they learned this semester. The unreliableness of the authors is something the professor has mentioned many times, even in 202, meaning the idea the student brings up of questioning the author’s reliability is valid. In the blog post i’ve read there is a student who brought up”the fake notion of counter-hegemonic” text where he explains that because the authors are not from the culture, .and or rich, or trying to appease British audiences that none of them are counter-hegemonic or reliable. I think both these post do a good job of summarizing what Professor Garcia wants us to learn.
*2022
Reading the blog post in the beginning to me was focused on how detrimental narratives can be for the ‘unreliable’ resources the writers provide. Then, the second half transitioned to how the narratives impact women in general as they seemed to be put aside and slipped under the rug. Making a further analysis beyond the impact of the narratives would be interesting to read.
This student’s blog summary has most definitely stricken a new idea that I never really put into elaboration on my blog post. Through this summary, we are able to not only identify “gender representation” but we are able to notice how the female perspective is that unheard voice. I’ve spent plenty of posts exposing the male perspective towards women, about sexualizing them and demeaning their identity. That I almost forgot to mention how the female perspective is the perspective that is missing from the text. We’ve encountered this question throughout the semester, “what is missing from the text?” and thanks to this blog post I’m able to represent my personal perspective to a more powerful level.
I really enjoyed this post’s focus on how the absence of women’s voices in the literary world of this time allows men to view women as simply another metaphor or object to be described. They stated very simply that this minimization of women is what allows narratives like Dean Mahomet and Khan to be seen at face value as reliable and true – because we are only getting one very small side of the story. I think it’s kind of funny that it feels like every male writer we’ve read is more concerned with having an imaginary pissing contest with another male figure in their life rather than dedicating their time and energy to accurately and respectfully capturing the environment and culture they are immersed in. I also really liked the last portion that says “In my blog posts, I notice I never actively engage with the missing female narrative, because it has been erased so effectively that I cannot notices my own participation in the disregarding or erasure of women historically.” However, it is difficult to support something that was never taught to us. But we have time to uplift and amplify voices who were previously silenced and think this blog post is a great start/addition to that movement.
Serena Johnson
Hello,
Your blog post presented a significant subject matter of how the female narrative has been constructed in the readings of this class. You shed light on how male domination has limited the aspirations of women and that is shown in the case of Lady Mary. An example of this would be in the Turkish bathhouse, when she is debating whether to join the women in the bath, however, she is summoned by her husband, so she has to leave. This demonstrates how women of her status and class felt compelled to obey her husband, whether she wanted to or not.
I enjoyed this post as it places an emphasis on the lack of povs in the literature we have read. I think my main suggestion would be to address the class and race differences between Lady Mary and other possible women writers because her education was a privilege. However, I agree that having more women authors would have been very interesting and I even questioned why we never read any anti-empire/imperialism/colonial literature which I think could receive the same answer I did: it was the sign of the times that did not allow for these kinds of povs to get by. So, I totally agree, we needed more povs.
Your post relates to what we have discussed previously in this class about how women are represented by different authors. In my summary I also talked about the differences between authors and their narratives, but I did not focus on how women were view between them. Your post has offer me a new perspective on the discussion on the differences between writers. Also it was very helpful to read someone else’s take on this concept, so I appreciate your preceptive very dearly. Great job. ~Luis A
Hello! I really enjoyed your summary because it actually correlates with some beliefs I was mulling over. Specifically, in my blog summary, I took some time to analyze the belief that authors discreetly make statements in their work. Why? In order to bypass the censorship going in at the time. I think the unreliable narration is a by-product of this due to how you point out Lady Mary’s issues with mysogony. It was a by-product of her role as not just an aristocrat, but a woman as well. This is why she chooses to have her letters published after her death in order to avoid scrutiny from not just her government, but her entire society as well.
Patriarchy does seem to enforce this pageantry amongst men, doesn’t it? That women are reduced to chess pieces in the games between men. It reminds me of how men would use the insult of cuckoldry to lower each other’s social standing. It didn’t matter if the wife cheated because of infidelity but rather how it would damage the social standing of the husband. It’s all strange.
This is a very interesting and contemporary interpretation and it does highlight a missing female presence from a majority of these texts. The critique on Lady Mary isn’t as assured because although Lady Mary was a woman, she also enjoyed the luxuries of European high society, and her class identity can be seen as a critical influence throughout her narrative. Was her occidentalist perspective really a consequence of “ her education was stolen and even she held very male centric ideologies she asserted ideas which painted the image of liberties for Muslim women”
? However, I do agree with the fact that almost completely no female Muslims voices are heard within this transnational development.
This persons blog summary surely took a strong stance I never thought of! They made me rethink my idea of male masculinity, picking a topic like that does affect how lady mariot writes her text. my blog post is lagging depth of close readings and taking a stance of a position. It made me want to take the postion for women because I never thought of it like that, I dont think I her the point of view of many muslim women.