ABSTRACT
The Portrayal of the
Historical Muslim Female on Screen
A thesis and two 15-minutes episodes of
animation submitted to the
University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities
Sabina Shah
School of Arts, Languages
and Cultures
24.1.2017
Representations
of the Muslim female are value-laden synonymous with the act of veiling. Veiling has fuelled political, social and academic
debates and this study contributes to the ongoing conversation alongside
identity formation by examining the image of the Muslim female on-screen with
due attention given to animation. The
image of the Muslim female is drawn in all manner of directions from that of
the belly-dancing beauty to the ‘bundle in black’, the latter often associated
with terrorism, particularly post-9/11 and the consequent ‘War on Terror’.
There is another direction that proffers an idealised image of the good
daughter and dutiful wife against that of the fallen woman. Such constructs I argue tend to rid the
Muslim female of her agency. This thesis examines how and why various
representations of the Muslim female have emerged and changed, whilst some
aspects have remained stagnant over time, thus positioning on-screen
representations within their historical context.
This
project goes beyond traditional academic methods of critical analysis in
reading film. The hybridised role of the
researcher-animator enables the study to offer a critique from that of the
spectator, but with the added vantage point of the practitioner with a set
focus on the making of meaning. The
interdisciplinary approach incorporates film theory, specifically concerned
with representations of race and gender. The work of Muslim women
scholar-activists informs and inspires the practice in reclaiming the status of
the Muslim woman. Their approach lies
within three trajectories being gender-sensitive interpretations of the Qur’an,
a recovery of Muslim women’s history and a critique on representation. Their
approaches fall in line with the aim of this project to reclaim the historical
Muslim figure on screen, whereas animation provides an attractive yet versatile
mode of production to carry out such a task.
Key
questions guiding this study are: why are current and existing portrayals of
the historical Muslim female problematic? Why do these portrayals need to be
addressed? Why does an alternative approach to the portrayal of the historical
Muslim female need to be devised and put into practice? Finding the answers to these questions lie in
the undertaking of the practice. The
practice consists of the first two episodes of a five-part series titled Sultan Razia, and as the title suggests
the animation is based upon a legendary historical Muslim female figure, who
ruled the Sultanate of Delhi between 634-638 Hejira/1236-1240CE. This project
is an example of how theory works in practice and vice-versa to determine an
audio-visual practice that re-inserts the Muslim female into a history that
breaks away from established clichés.