Women of Algiers
In 1834, Eugène Delacroix painted The Women of Algiers in their Apartment, one of the classics of the Orientalist art movement. Orientalism divides the world into "not-the-Orient" and "the Orient." Its evidence for this divide, and the justification for colonial and imperial intervention, was and is the treatment of "Oriental" women by "Oriental" men. Doubly separated from the active subject, "Oriental" women are by definition incapable of representing themselves, even by speaking.
In 1954 when the war in Algeria began, Pablo Picasso began a series of reworking's of Delacroix's painting. As the series continued, the apartment comes to seem like a torture chamber, the place where all voice disappears until the tortured "talks." Thus, Henri Alleg's account of his own torture was called The Question, a reference back to the Inquisition but also a statement that torture seeks a subject that "talks."
In 1972, Assia Djebar wrote back from the point of view of Algerian women, once again using the same title, The Women of Algiers in their Apartment.
A recent web-based remix of colonial photographs takes the title The Algerian Women.
One widely-used justification for the invasion of Afghanistan was the liberation of women, epitomized by their unveiling. Once again, we saw "white men saving brown women from brown men" (Gayatri Spivak.)
Today, the resurgence of the Taliban has led to report that gains for women are feared to be in danger. What are we to make of this threat from the future? Media accounts suggest that Afghan men, epitomized by puppet President Hamid Kazai, cannot be trusted to defend women's rights, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declared that the issue is a "red line" for the administration.
Here, rights are a gift, not right. The more that they come to seem like an imposition from the West, the more they will be resisted. Fanon noted in his 1959 essay "Algeria Unveiled," the "sadistic and perverse character" of this "microcosm [of] the tragedy of the colonial situation on the psychological level." The more the colonizer insists on unveiling, the more the veil becomes a simple means of resistance. This syllogism has played out in decolonial nations like Egypt and Turkey, as well as in colonial regimes like France and the UK.
In 1954 when the war in Algeria began, Pablo Picasso began a series of reworking's of Delacroix's painting. As the series continued, the apartment comes to seem like a torture chamber, the place where all voice disappears until the tortured "talks." Thus, Henri Alleg's account of his own torture was called The Question, a reference back to the Inquisition but also a statement that torture seeks a subject that "talks."
In 1972, Assia Djebar wrote back from the point of view of Algerian women, once again using the same title, The Women of Algiers in their Apartment.
A recent web-based remix of colonial photographs takes the title The Algerian Women.
One widely-used justification for the invasion of Afghanistan was the liberation of women, epitomized by their unveiling. Once again, we saw "white men saving brown women from brown men" (Gayatri Spivak.)
Today, the resurgence of the Taliban has led to report that gains for women are feared to be in danger. What are we to make of this threat from the future? Media accounts suggest that Afghan men, epitomized by puppet President Hamid Kazai, cannot be trusted to defend women's rights, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declared that the issue is a "red line" for the administration.
Here, rights are a gift, not right. The more that they come to seem like an imposition from the West, the more they will be resisted. Fanon noted in his 1959 essay "Algeria Unveiled," the "sadistic and perverse character" of this "microcosm [of] the tragedy of the colonial situation on the psychological level." The more the colonizer insists on unveiling, the more the veil becomes a simple means of resistance. This syllogism has played out in decolonial nations like Egypt and Turkey, as well as in colonial regimes like France and the UK.
| Previous page on path | Spectres of Algeria, page 1 of 5 | Next page on path |
Discussion of "Women of Algiers"
Add your voice to this discussion.
Checking your signed in status ...