cfp.english.upenn.edu

This collection of interdisciplinary essays will trace the historical trajectory of the production, circulation, and consumption of Muslim femininity and fashion from early modernity to the era of transnational globalization. The essays will collectively work through the politics of zenana (feminine) fashion, to unravel how dress and appearance have historically constituted complex, embodied performances of Muslim feminine identity and community in the global arena. Our goal is to investigate the aesthetic and political impact of discourses of modernity in the fashioning of Muslim women’s bodies, dress, and lives in multiple geographical sites from the early modern period through the post-9/11 era. We are especially interested in essays that theorize fashion in new, innovative ways so as to complicate traditional accounts of the harem, seraglio, and zenana as secluded spaces harboring communities frozen in time. We welcome scholarly contributions from a broad spectrum of disciplines (such as literature, film, history, religion, anthropology, gender studies, and art history, etc) and addressing topics including (but not limited to):

Censorship and Iranian Cinema
Bollywood Aesthetics
Performance Traditions in Islamic Cultures
Theatre and Empire
Memoirs, Letters, and Autobiographies
Orientalism and Travel Writings
Graphic Novels and Comics
Art and Visual Culture
Architectural Spaces and Everyday Life
Representations of Harems and Seraglios
Weddings and other Ritual Ceremonies
The Glamour Industry and Consumer Capitalism
Cross Dressing and Border Crossings
Power Dressing and Politics
Veils and Headscarves in Public Discourse
Citizenship and Civil Society
Identity and Faith in Islamic Diaspora

Please submit an abstract of 300-500 words and a brief CV to unveilingfashion@gmail.com by July 31, 2012. Authors will be notified by September 15 whether or not their abstract has been accepted. The deadline for full-length article, if accepted, is January 15, 2013. Articles should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words in length, accompanied by an abstract of around 200 words. All submissions will be peer reviewed and the editors will notify authors of acceptance for publication by March 15, 2013.

Preliminary inquiries are welcome: kindly address them to unveilingfashion@gmail.com

Nida Sajid
Dept. of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL)
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Lucy Stone Hall B 319
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8070
nidasajids@gmail.com

Ellorashree Maitra
Department of English
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
510 George Street
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901
elmaitra@gmail.com