Thread: Recommend Scholary articles on belly dance, please?

Hi folks,

As I'm ramping up my dancing, I'm also invested in working on my collection of works on same. As I have access to an excellent Inter-Library Loan that's providing PDFs of articles, I'm currently focused on looking up scholarly articles -- not books, of which I'm well-covered -- on the dance, preferably ones in the last 20 or so years; Leona's Wood's articles, for example, I already know about.

I've already retrieved a few via Google Scholar and other sources, yet I sense I'm only scratching the surface, and I know some Buzzers have written a few, as well!

If I have a focus, it's on fairly modern (21th Century) looks into the Cairo scene, although I am interested in resources from any academically-researched period and region (West or East), around our dance. And yes, I really am focusing on scholarly resources for this run, as they are harder to find and retrieve than stuff already on the 'Net, while also useful for explaining and defending this dance to oft-skeptical onlookers.

That said, since her works recently came up, and it provides a great example of what I'm looking for, I will offer this -- the rarely-noted online followup to A TRADE LIKE ANY OTHER, named "An hour for God and an hour for the heart": Islam, gender and female entertainment in Egypt.

Thanks, everyone, and sorry about the length.

[FYI: Likely to get cross-posted...]

I don't have a lot to add, because I would have searched google scholar and mentioned the van Nieuwkerk article as well.

It is not so Egypt based, but Michelle Forner's work is really interesting: Michelle Forner-Oriental Dance

Other than that, you might look at back issues of Arabesque, which had some really interesting work in it when it ran.

I'd be interested in hearing about what you find.

Asim, you might check out Farida Fahmy, Sahra, and Habiba's websites. All have articles that might be of interest as well a bibliographic references that will take you into deeper territory. Farida has a link to her master's thesis at her site.

Asim, the Garland Encyclopdia of World Music (Middle Eastern volume) has AMAZING articles on not only historic dance but modern dance based on historic dance.

Some libraries can get the electronic edition. To buy it it's like $175. I used the have that volume's table of contents in pdf form -- if you want it, pm me and I'll send it to you :)

I assume you have the books that are collections of articles such as Mass Mediations, Choreographic Politics, Imagining Arab Womanhood: The Cultural Mythology of Veils, Harems, and Belly Dancers in the U.S., Orientalism Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, and Pyramids and Nightclubs?

Originally Posted by Souzan

Asim, you might check out Farida Fahmy, Sahra, and Habiba's websites. All have articles that might be of interest as well a bibliographic references that will take you into deeper territory. Farida has a link to her master's thesis at her site.

Thanks for the Sahra ref. -- I'm already hooked up on Farida's thesis and Habiba's articles.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I assume you have the books that are collections of articles such as Mass Mediations, Choreographic Politics, Imagining Arab Womanhood: The Cultural Mythology of Veils, Harems, and Belly Dancers in the U.S., Orientalism Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy, and Pyramids and Nightclubs?

Except for Pyramids and Nightclubs, which I've only vaguely heard about, I either have those or they are on my radar to get, so yeah.

Originally Posted by Asim

Except for Pyramids and Nightclubs, which I've only vaguely heard about, I either have those or they are on my radar to get, so yeah.

Pyramids and Nightclubs is more culture-oriented than dance-oriented, though it does have some info about where modern-day foreign dancers fit in the Egyptian scene. So, it might not be what you're looking for, but it seemed worth mentioning.

There's a detailed review on my web site at Book Review: Pyramids and Nightclubs by L. L. Wynn

Hi Asim --

Do you have access to something like JSTOR or Project Muse?

TDR has Donnalee Dox's 2006 "Dancing Around Orientalism" and a 2009 or early 2010 article called "Raqs Gothique." Sunaina Maira's 2008 article on belly dance and imperialism is cited by almost everybody writing anything about it now, which is unfortunate in my view because despite her good points, she knows almost nothing about belly dance and perpetuates misconceptions. There's an article I read recently on belly dance in Brazil, like Maira looking at it from a racial/imperialism perspective. Very interesting in what does and does not match up between the US and Brazil -- different meanings for similar dynamics.

If this is the sort of thing you want and you don't have them, I can look up the references. Of all of these authors, only Dox knows anything about belly dance.

Amira Jarmakani is an interesting author to follow; she knows something about the dance although is not inclined to see it as a productive exercise on the part of American dancers. Still, I enjoy her stuff.

Virgina Keft-Kennedy's 2005 Ph.D. thesis from the U of Woolongong (if I spelled that right) has some good stuff as well. She has an article from that in Women's Studies, 2006 or 2007 I think.

Anthony Shay's Dancing Across Borders (2009 I think) has something on the Cairo renaissance in the background for the belly dance section.

Virginia Danielson's The Voice of Egypt about Um Kuthum is one of the best books I have ever seen for explaining the dynamics of that period.

V. Shafik's Popular Cinema in the Arab world has a couple of illuminating pages on belly dance in 1940's-50's film.

I have an article in submission I'll send you a copy of, if you're interested. It's a little snarky but fun.

Colors of Enchantment has an interesting piece on Arab entertainement in the US (not necessarily dance) in the 19th century.

One of the most interesting books I have seen lately is Susan Nance's How the Arabia Nights Built the American Dream (I think). She looks at the aspect of "playing eastern" from the standpoint of commodity and capitalism, and is very different from most of the more strictly post-colonial academic pieces. She has a chapter on some of the dancers who satyed in the US after the 1893 exposition, although I think she is a little optimistic in how she portrays the balance of power (this is a subject I am also working on for another article at the moment).

Let me know which if any of these you need more complete references for and i will provide them. Forgive the typos -- I'm rushing.

Originally Posted by Andrea Deagon

Hi Asim --

Do you have access to something like JSTOR or Project Muse?

Via Inter-Library Loan, yes. If they can't get it, I have friends in Low Places, as well -- but so far, the local library has been awesome at grabbing articles from a wide variety of sources, and tossing me the PDFs in a rapid manner.

If this is the sort of thing you want and you don't have them, I can look up the references.

I'm pretty good at searching a variety of sources, once I have a name and/or title, so let me look around. If I have issues finding anything, I'll yell out. Feel free to drop me a line about anything you've got on the hopper, since I know you do awesome work. :)

And thanks for this -- it's exactly the kind of sources I'm looking for!