The Exotic Portrayal of Women in Isabella Bird Bishop's Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan

Isabella Bird Bishop's Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan is presented as an objective picture of Persia, purportedly reflecting eye-witness accounts. Setting the narrative in its historical context and employing the concept of exoticism, this paper aims to unearth its subtle imperialist underpin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Iranian studies 2012-11, Vol.45 (6), p.779-793
Main Authors: Roselezam, Wan, Yahya, Wan, Ghaderi, Farah, Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Colonialism
England
Females
Intervention
United Kingdom
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Summary:Isabella Bird Bishop's Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan is presented as an objective picture of Persia, purportedly reflecting eye-witness accounts. Setting the narrative in its historical context and employing the concept of exoticism, this paper aims to unearth its subtle imperialist underpinnings. It argues that Bird's portrayal of Persian women and their mores and manners as exotic is an effect of a mode of representation which depicts and constructs difference based on a British-oriented system of evaluation, in line with its imperialist interest in Persia. As such, the exotic representation of Persian women in need of British benign tutelage and a chivalric mission could be interpreted as lending implicit support to Britain's colonial intervention in and imposition on Persia.
ISSN:0021-0862
1475-4819
DOI:10.1080/00210862.2012.726849