Bekkaoui's Exam

apply theories ( return the gaze, colonial, sexual gaze, Malek Alloula others..
)to
these short stories?
Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field related to many concepts and fields. Such
as anthropology, archeology, science, politics politics, and many other cultural issues
that are race, ideology, nationalism, and social classes, as well as many theories;
colonialism, Occidentalism, hegemony, Marxism, structuralism, and postmodernism.
This essay shall limits limit one theory which is postcolonialism and through this
essay, I will apply the politics ofpolitics of the gaze in different texts; "Marrakesh" by
George Orwell, "Tea on the Mountain", "Everything is Nice" and " Distant Episode"
by Paul Bowls, then "the Garden Wall " by John Bovey. All of them are considered
as travelogue in which the authors describe the places and their interactions with the
natives based on their backgrounds.
To start with, postcolonialism which is a theory, as well as an answer-backanswer

back to the colonial discourse. There are many scholars who tackles tackle the issues
of otherness that are considered as the aftermath of colonialism. Such as; race by
Stuart Hall, and the misrepresentation of the West by the East in colonial text and
movies, and this had already been discussed by Jack Shahhen in "Reel Bad Arabs"
and Frantz Fanon's works on "Black Skin White Masks". It is a broad term that cannot
be defined in two lines, neither nor can theorists argue on one definition because
colonialism still exist exists in many countries. Such as the war in Palestine and
Russia. Moreover, the Central gaze in the short stories I mention in the introduction.
To start with "Marrakesh" by George Orwell which is fall full of stereotypes towards
the locals. He talks about the funerals in Marrakesh, and he tries to generalize his
negative view about the Moroccans. Such as; when he describes the people, he said
all of them have brown faces and he questions if those people have names or not, as
well as when he gives a piece of bread to the gazelle, and he neglects a hungry
hungry navy man who asks him for some bread. In addition to that he describes the
encounters between Moroccans and Jews in the 'Mellah' and the fact that they are
isolated. There is a symbolic meaning in the way he describes Moroccans when they
regard him smoking as ' everyone of them looks on a cigarette as a more or less
impossible luxury", which means cigarette is something strange for them probably
because of their poverty or cultural prohibitions. But, in a one way or otheranother,
he criticizes imperialism and the exploitation of the natives, but e cannot know
whether he is conscious with of these misrepresentations towards of Moroccan lands,
culture, and its people. He argues that Moroccans overload the donkeys and women
with wood, as well as he gives a bad description to of black Africans or Negros by
saying they " look like blocks of wood", which means he feels that he is in a position
of power and the others are just suffering because of colonialism. Moreover, there are
many expression expressions in the text that refer focused on to the colonial gaze ;
when he stopped one of the women who used to go everyday near to his house
carrying a loaf of firewood, and he puts her some money into her hand. So, if we
visualize this seen, we can say that the man look looks down at the women, as well as
as he affirms that those working people are invisible by using the language of power"
I noticed... I stopped her...I cannot truly say that I had seen them.."( 137). In the light
of this quotation, we can understand that he describes Moroccans through his colonial
gaze even though he criticize criticizes imperialism and how the French white men
believe themselves as the masters. I would like to mention to Malek Alloula in his
book " the Colonial Harem", he talks about the politics of the colonial gaze, especially
when the French colonizer misrepresent the oriental Algerian women through the
colonial discourse to dehuminaze dehumanize and objectify women. There is an
objectification of the Moroccan women in in as they are suffering doubly because of
colonialism and the harem culture. The second short story is " Tea on the Mountain",
Bowles talks about the encounter between an American novelist who comes to
Morocco, to continue his novel and she chooses Tangier as a contact zone, the
international space for all people from different nationalities. The colonial gaze in this
story manifests in the character of the woman, when she was hesitant whether to go
with Mjid on a picnic or not that means she is not in her conform and does not trust
the natives. Moreover, another hence of the colonial gaze applies in the way the
American woman feels fear when she hears" the Muzzine" that which refers to the
Islamophobia and the lack of respect to for Islamic culture, whereas Mjid feels of fall
comfort because prayers and listening to" the muzzein" is a part of his national and
cultural identity. Furthermore, in the third story " A Distant Episod" can be read from
a colonial perspective. The central theory of colonial gaze is representes represented
in the encounter between the Qaouaji and the professor, especially when the Qaouaji
wants to take control over the professor and he captured him with his friends and
forced his him to act as a clown and dance dances in public, and when the Reguibat
torture tortures him. So, I would like to say that the colonial gaze is always
comealways comes from the way the occidents accidents and the orients perceive
each other and their their relation of course based on power. If you have the power
you can dominate, this statement is manifested in these stories, also there is another
story " the Garden Wall", which is about Cecilia, the wife of an American colonel,
Titus Lofton, he works in the South, and Cecilia lives alone, when she notices that her
garden's wall is broken because of 'shergui'. She calls Majors who can help the
colonels and their wives. They send her two men, Meknassy a Moroccan and a French
man. She was surprised that Meknassy speaks the language of the colonizer means he
has knowledge because he repairs the wall. So the character Meknassy changes his
view towards the Muslims as illiterate and civilized. For instance; when he introduce
introduces himself and said" My name is Meknassy... I speak English and I speak it
well." This quote reveals that he is aware of the colonizer gaze toward the East, and
this act of defining the self refers to his self-confident and comfort. In other words,
Cecillia , the American woman becomes obsessed with the Meknassy look looking at
him without leating letting him to see her, and she is in need of self validationself-
validation because of her age, she is insure unsure if her husband still loves her. The
symbolic meaning of the ' sherghui' and the wall are is that the fact that the aftermath
of colonialism will remain in their psychology.
In his book " Signs of Spectacular Resistance" Khalid Bekkaoui, talks about
resistance by Homi Bhabha who criticizes the binary oppositions, as well as he
criticizes E. Said for minimizing the space for Eastern as exotics and not giving them
a space to resist their power and voice. In addition to that, there are other Marxists
such as Ijaz Ahmad and Arif Dirlik who criticize E. Said because they are against
eurocentricism Eurocentricism and capitalism. If Said argues that there is one text and
one West, Bhabha's concepts of ambivalence, mimicry, and third space means that
those subalterns who are minoritized and marginalized by the West, have voice and
power, they just luck lack the tools which are education, the knowledge, and
institutions that make them show to the other their hard work and agency.

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apply theories ( return the gaze, colonial, sexual gaze, Malek Alloula others..

To start with, postcolonialism which is a theory, as well as an answer-backanswer

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