Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T17:03:48.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reclaiming the Feminine: Bellydancing as a Feminist Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2013

Angela M. Moe
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bellydancing is largely misunderstood and stereotyped. Few realize that it is an expressive, ancient, and woman-centered genre of movement, rooted in Middle/Near Eastern folk tradition and culture. Not surprisingly, it has received scant scholarship despite its increasing popularity throughout the world. This paper offers a feminist critique of hegemonic understandings of bellydance, based upon ethnographic research on American women's experiences. Findings are organized along five themes: discovery (of the dance and of self); healing (repair and respite from illness, injury, and victimization); spirituality (connectivity to each other, a higher power, and divine femininity); sisterhood (community, specifically woman-space); and empowerment (omnipresent sense of pride and self-confidence). I argue that bellydance is too easily dismissed as a means through which women are objectified via patriarchal views of beauty, sexuality, and performativity. These may be understood as byproducts of Western Orientalist renderings of the Middle/Near East and contextualized within our contemporary antifeminist society.

Type
Research Article
Information
Congress on Research in Dance Conference Proceedings , Volume 40 , supplement S1: Dance Studies and Global Feminisms , 2008 , pp. 181 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adair, Christy. 1993. “Viewing Women: The Display of the Female Body in Dance.” In Body Matters: Leisure Images and Lifestyles, edited by Brackenridge, Celia, 39–44. Eastbourne, UK: Leisure Studies Association.Google Scholar
Adra, Najwa. 2005. “Belly Dance: An Urban Folk Genre.” In Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, edited by Shay, Anthony and Sellers-Young, Barbara, 28–50. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.Google Scholar
Alloula, Malek. 1986. The Colonial Harem. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Rawi, Rosina-Fawzia. 2003. Grandmother's Secrets: The Ancient Rituals and Healing Power of Belly Dancing. New York: Interlink.Google Scholar
Baring, Anne, and Cashford, Jules. 1993. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Bordo, Susan R. 1990. “The Body and Reproduction of Femininity: A Feminist Appropriation of Foucault.” In Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, edited by Jaggar, Alison M. and Bordo, Susan R., 13–33. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Bordo, Susan R. 1993. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Buonaventura, Wendy. 1998. Serpent of the Nile: Women and Dance in the Arab World. New York: Saqi Books.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carlton, Donna. 1994. Looking for Little Egypt. Bloomington, IN: IDD Books.Google Scholar
Charmaz, Kathy. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Christ, Carol P. 1997. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Crosby, Janice C. 2000. “The Goddess Dances: Spirituality and American Women's Interpretations of Middle Eastern Dance.” In Daughters of the Goddess: Studies in Healing, Identity, and Empowerment, edited by Griffin, Wendy, 166–82. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.Google Scholar
Deagon, Andrea. 1996. “Costumes: Magic, Identity and Power.” Jareeda Middle Eastern Dance Magazine (March): 28–29.Google Scholar
Deagon, Andrea. 1999. “Feminism and Bellydance.” Habibi: A Journal for Lovers of Middle Eastern Dance and Arts 17 (4): 8–13.Google Scholar
Deagon, Andrea. 2005. “Dance of the Seven Veils: The Revision and Revelation in the Oriental Dance Community.” In Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, edited by Shay, Anthony and Sellers-Young, Barbara, 244–75. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.Google Scholar
Dinicu, Carolina Varga (p.k.a. Morocco). 2000. “Dance as Community Identity in Selected Berber Nations of Morocco: From the Ethereal and Sublime to the Erotic and Sexual.” In The Belly Dance Book: Rediscovering the Oldest Dance, edited by Richards, Tazz, 52–64. Concord, CA: Backbeat.Google Scholar
Djoumahna, Kajira. 2000. “Belly Dance—In Brief.” In The Belly Dance Book: Rediscovering the Oldest Dance, edited by Richards, Tazz, 10–13. Concord, CA: Backbeat.Google Scholar
Dougherty, Roberta L. 2005. “Dance and the Dancer in Egyptian Film.” In Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, edited by Shay, Anthony and Sellers-Young, Barbara, 145–71. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.Google Scholar
Dox, Donnalee. 2005. “Spirit from the Body: Belly Dance as a Spiritual Practice.” In Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, edited by Shay, Anthony and Sellers-Young, Barbara, 303–40. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.Google Scholar
Du, Jane. 2008. “Women's Leisure as Reproduction and Resistance.” Affilia 23 (2): 179–89.Google Scholar
Dyer, Richard. 1992. Only Entertainment. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Eisler, Riane. 1995. The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Freysinger, Valeria J., and Flannery, Daniele. 1992. “Women's Leisure: Affiliation, Self-Determination, Empowerment and Resistance?” Society and Leisure 15:303–22.Google Scholar
Harding, Sandra. 2004. “Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is “Strong Objectivity?” In Feminist Perspectives on Social Research, edited by Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy and Yaiser, Michelle L., 39–64. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Henderson, Karla A. 2003. “Editorial: Enjoyment as the Link Between Leisure and Physical Activity.” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 74 (7): 6–7, 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoefle, Jennifer. 2001. “Dancing Women: Constructing Bodies of Meaning.” Master's thesis, Northern Arizona University.Google Scholar
Hunter, Patricia L., and Whitson, David J.. 1992. “Women's Leisure in a Resource Industry Town: Problems and Issues.” Society and Leisure 15 (1): 223–44.Google Scholar
Karayanni, Stavros Stavrou. 2004. Dancing Fear and Desire: Race, Sexuality, and Imperial Politics in Middle Eastern Dance. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.Google Scholar
Knapp, Bettina L. 1981. “Egyptian Feasts and Dances of Earliest Times.” Arabesque 7 (1): 12–14, 22.Google Scholar
MacMaster, Neil, and Lewis, Toni. 1998. “Orientalism: From Unveiling to Hyperveiling.” Journal of European Studies 28 (1): 121–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mourat, Elizabeth Artemis. 2000. “Dances of Ancient Egypt.” In The Belly Dance Book: Rediscovering the Oldest Dance, edited by Richards, Tazz, 42–51. Concord, CA: Backbeat.Google Scholar
Oatley, Diane. 1999. “Staging Unstable Bodies: The Practice of Oriental Dance in the West within the Context of the Postmodern.” Habibi: A Journal for Lovers of Middle Eastern Dance and Arts 14 (4): 18–21.Google Scholar
Samuel, Nicole. 1992. “Women's Aspirations for Autonomy: Family Leisure and Personal Leisure.” Society and Leisure 15 (1): 354.Google Scholar
Senkovich, Natasha, prod. 2006. The Bellydancers of Cairo [Film]. Sherman Oaks, CA: Firstars.Google Scholar
Shaw, Susan M. 1994. “Gender, Leisure, and Constraint: Towards a Framework for the Analysis of Women's Leisure.” Journal of Leisure Research 26:8–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senkovich, Natasha, prod. 2001. “Conceptualizing Resistance: Women's Leisure as Political Practice.” Journal of Leisure Research 33:186–201.Google Scholar
Shay, Anthony. 2003. Review of Daughter of Egypt: Farida Fahmy and the Reda Troupe, by Marjorie A. Franken. Dance Research Journal 35 (1): 111–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shay, Anthony, and Sellers-Young, Barbara, eds. 2005. Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.Google Scholar
Shilling, Chris. 1993. The Body and Social Theory. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Sklar, Deidre. 1991. “On Dance Ethnography.” Dance Research Journal 23 (1): 6–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stavrou, Stavros. 1999. “Erotic Fantasy or Female Empowerment? Gender Issues in Oriental Dance.” Habibi: A Journal for Lovers of Middle Eastern Dance and Arts 14 (4): 14–17.Google Scholar
Stewart, Iris J. 2000. Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance: Awakening Spirituality through Movement and Ritual. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.Google Scholar
Strova, Maria. 2006. The Secret Language of Belly Dancing. Charleston, SC: BookSurge.Google Scholar
Van Nieuwkerk, Karin. 1995. A trade like any other”: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Wesely, Jennifer K., and Gaarder, Emily. 2004. “The Gendered ‘Nature’ of the Urban Outdoors: Women Negotiating Fear of Violence.” Gender and Society 18 (5): 645–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitson, David. 1990. “Sport in the Social Construction of Masculinity.” In Sport, Men and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives, edited by Messner, Michael and Sabo, Don F.. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Wright, Jan, and Dreyfus, Shoshona. 1998. “Belly Dancing: A Feminist Project?” Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal 7 (2): 95–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuhur, Sherifa, ed. 2001. Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East. Cairo, Egypt: American University.Google Scholar