Shérazade at the Museum : A Visual Approach to Teaching Leïla Sebbar's Novel

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2007

Publication Title

American Association of Teachers of French

Abstract

Students studying Leïla Sebbar's Shérazade, 17 ans, brune, frisée, les yeux verts have difficulty understanding Shérazade's reaction to the images of "Oriental" women she encounters on her museum visits to the Louvre and Pompidou Center. This article describes an approach to teaching the novel that prepares students to view visual representations of Arab women from Shérazade's perspective. After an initial viewing of representative images and an introduction to key concepts such as "Orientalism," students follow Shérazade into the museum where they observe how her gaze gradually replaces that of the western male artist. She rejects the role of "Odalisque" in order to define herself.

Volume

80

Issue

3

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