Orientalism and Three British Dames:
De-essentialization of the Other in the Work of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, and E.S. Drower
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1226&context=masters
A Thesis Submitted to
The Faculty of the School of Communication
In Candidacy for the Degree of
Master of Arts in English
By
Lynn Massie Sawyer
Abstract
Although postcolonial criticism has run its course for thirty years, a fresh look at Edward Said’s
Orientalism offers insight into how Orientalism functions in the writings of three British dames.
Gertrude Bell in The Desert and the Sown, Freya Stark in The Southern Gates of Arabia, and
E.S. Drower in The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, however, challenge Said’s theory. Their
writing raises questions about how gender alters the discourse about the Other, and whether Said
essentializes the Occident. Bell, Stark, and Drower serve as case studies in which to analyze the
politically and rhetorically complex interactions between the West and the East at the end of the
Colonial period. Over time, these women moved from approaching the Other with superior
attitudes and a focus on otherness to developing a sympathetic understanding and greater
appreciation of the similarities between the West and the East.
Key Words: Said, Bell, Stark, Drower, Orientalism, Other, Postcolonialism
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