Femonationalistic Study of Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody

Abstract

The present study aims to explore that femonationalism is not a new concept rather it can be found in later 80’s Western literary discourses about Muslims. To carry out the study, the researcher has selected Not Without My Daughter written by Betty Mahmoody as a primary text. The research is an attempt to find out how such literary discourses sow the seeds for later (real) femonationalism in America. Not Without My Daughter (1987) by Betty Mahmoody depicts Muslim males and Islam as misogynistic and anti-modernist. It also blames Muslim males of ‘love jihad’ who convert non-Muslim women to Islam by marrying them. In the memoir, America is depicted as a utopia for women who suffer in Iran. The research aims at carrying out a qualitative analysis of the mentioned memoirs. It uses textual interpretation as a method to explore whether the selected text responds positively to the stance taken in the study or not. It seeks to find out whether most Western discourses about Muslims in the late 80’s and early 90’s carry the strain of femonationalism by demonizing Muslim males and Islam. If so, the study will find out that Western feminist memoirs about Muslims specifically written during the ’80s and ’90s have prepared the stage for real islamophobia, xenophobia and racism in post-9/11 America. The research paper will prove to a significant contribution to the field of feminism and will further widen the horizon of scholars who are interested in the field of feminist studies and Muslim representation.