Theses Bachelor's

Deconstructing Discourse: Gender and Neoliberal Orientalism in the Egyptian Revolution

Ellman-Golman, Sophie

This thesis will show that in Egyptian media and political discourse, women’s rights rhetoric serves as a façade for anti-woman nationalism, and in American media and political discourse, neoliberal support for the revolution cloaks gendered orientalism. Each is riddled with contradictions. The juxtaposition of appropriating a pro-woman label while dismissing its substance, with the dismissal of a racist concept’s label yet utilization of its substance demonstrates a grave problem in both political activism and media: indifference to probing reflection and the prioritization of a means-to-an-end attitude. This indifference and these priorities only produce short-term or surface-level solutions because they employ short-term and surface-level tactics. Consequently, revolutions do not result in the desperately desired deconstruction of hegemonic political, economic and social systems, and media does not yield in-depth investigations into the systemic problems in which the issues discussed are rooted.

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Academic Units
Africana Studies (Barnard College)
Degree
B.A., Barnard College
Published Here
May 19, 2014