The Colonial Response
Book: The Colonial Harem, by Mallek Alloula
The Colonial Harem by Mallek Alloula explores the French colonization of Algeria through the examination of colonial postcards. These postcards created by French colonizers and were distributed worldwide to spread the image of the “Orient”. The images on the postcards featured highly sexualized and almost violent images of Algerian women. Alloula uses these postcards to analyze the effects of colonization on Algerian society and to argue that these postcards are not a representation of Algerian society, rather they represent “the Frenchman's phantasm of the Oriental female” (Alloula, xiv). The beginning chapters focus primarily on the fascination with the Orient and the concept of the harem. The idea of the harem and the veil created an inaccessibility to women that subsequently led to the sexualization and exoticization of both the veil and the harem. Alloulla then traces the use of clothing and jewelry in the harem. The use of clothing and jewelry was important for several reasons. The clothing and jewelry was often varied to represent women from different regions and to create a sort of menu for the different types of women in Algeria. The clothing and jewelry was also intended to add to the beauty of the Orient and thus reinforce the sexualized fantasy of the harem. Alloula describes three symbols that gave postcard viewers a look into the enclosed harem: a coffee drinking ritual, hookah, and the odalisque or female slave. The use of these rituals allowed the viewer to get an inside look into the harem, however; the photographer used decoration and scenery to maintain the mystery of the harem. One important note to make about the use of this source is the controversy surrounding the use of postcards by Alloula due to their violent nature, and because he operated without the consent of the original women in the photographs. Another note is that the Ouled Naïl are not mentioned explicitly in the book, however; some of the images depict Ouled Naïl women spelled ‘Uled-Nayl’.
My project will utilize several general themes of the postcards included in this work, and the vehicle of the postcard. The Golden Age of the postcards was during the 1900s to the 1930s. Alloula emphasizes several aspects of the postcard that made them extremely efficient in translating a particular image including the ability to be spread, the accessibility for viewers of all classes, and their ability to be mass produced. These postcards could be spread to many different European countries, displayed in the stands of stores for all to see. It allowed people from all over the world to get a glimpse of the “mystical” or “phantasmic” Orient in a physical manner. People of all classes could relish in these images for very little money. The images of these postcards share some common themes. Each image is very intentional with the use of props, jewelry, and body positioning, all with the intent of creating “authenticity”. Many of these images are highly sexualized and the breasts of these women are fully bare. The image of an Ouled Naïl woman on page 117, for example, features a young woman with her breasts bared and her face turned away from the camera almost giving the impression of a candid photo. Some of the women featured in the postcards are not the Algerian women the postcard claims them to be, however; the photographer utilizes props and costuming to create the fantasy of “the other” in a “natural” form.
The information used in this section is key in supporting my argument of colonial fear. These postcards represent control. They were a means to control the unfamiliar and reduce the personhood of the unfamiliar into that of an object. Transmitting this message across the world gave the colonizers more power over these women and showed the world who controlled the accessibility these women. Furthermore, the postcards straified the Ouled Naïl on a local and global scale. These postcards also removed the art form of the Ouled Naïl and the images were a confirmation of the colonial claim of these women being nothing more than sexual beings or prostitutes.
Citation: Alloula, Malek. The Colonial Harem. University of Minnesota Press, 1986.
Link: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-colonial-harem
Book: Unfinished Gestures by Davesh Soneji
Unfinished Gestures by Davesh Soneji is an ethnographic and historical book centered on a group of South Indian temple dancers called Devadasis and it discusses the cultural history of this group and their collision with colonialism and the subsequent effects of this collision. Soneji challenges colonial ideas surrounding the performance of the Devadasis, theirs relations with men, and their social status and chooses to look at contemporary Devadasis and the implications of historical policies on their lives today, instead of following a “‘redemptive’ narrative” (4). This novel has an ethnographic portion with original testimonies and information that doesn’t exist in the literature surrounding the Devadasis. Soneji visited 10 different Devadasis communities in Southern India, however; he focused on one woman in particular: R. Muttukkannammal who resided in Viralimalai in the state of Tamilnadu. Soneji worked with her for many years and would watch a performance on her rooftop every night. Watching Muttukkannammal’s movement allowed Soneji to access information that cannot be translated by language and this included “layers of embodied memory, accessing the fullness of history” (Soneji, 163). His conversations with her allowed him to truly understand Muttukkannammal’s liminal position in society. This source will be used for two parts of this project: for the introduction and the colonial response.
This portion of the project will rely on parts of the “UNFINISHED AESTHETICS” section of the introduction. The catalyst for the dance revival came with The Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act, which was passed in 1947. This bill outlawed all practices of the Devadasis, however; actual prostitutes in India were not impacted by this bill (Soneji, 4). Soneji suggests that the disappearance of the Devadasi's dance occurred due to a hierarchy of social taste. Certain art forms in India were labeled as “classical” and this label left the movement form susceptible to a class and caste-based hierarchy of taste. Bharatanatyam flourished due to its tie with the Brahmins who were at the top of the social hierarchy. This revival marked the history of Devadasi movement as “aesthetically impoverished” (25). Aspects of the dance from “loose limbs” to no emphasis on “proper” rhythm were used to justify the label of the dance as tasteless. Rukmini Arundale was the leader of this revival and with help from the state, established Kalakshetra, an arts institution in 1936. These centers presented the arts through the lens of gender and caste with Bharatanatyam at the forefront and no mention of the Devadasi art or culture (Soneji, 225).
The information in this section will be key for my discussion of colonial fear and control. The reform of the Devadasi movement was a means of controlling Devadasis women by stripping them of their livelihood. Without their movement and no means to support themselves, there was nothing that distinguished these women anymore. Furthermore, their low caste status restricted them from participating in a movement that was originally theirs. Labeling the Devadasi movement as “bad taste”, by extension labeled the dancers that participated in that movement in the same way and further stratified the group, which was the goal of this reform. The exclusion of Devadasis from state-sponsored art institutions further delegitimized their practice and removed them from public record and thereby public memory.
Citation: Soneji, Devesh. Unfinished Gestures: devadāsīs, Memory, and Modernity in South India. University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Link: https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/U/bo12120868.html