New Publication
"Dancing
Fear and Desire;
Throughout centuries of European
colonial domination, the bodies of
Middle Eastern dancers,
male and female, move sumptuously and
seductively across the
pages of Western travel journals. Evoking
desire and derision,
admiration and disdain, allure and revulsion, this
profound ambivalence
forms the axis of an investigation into Middle
Eastern dance-an
investigation that extends to contemporary belly
dance.
Stavros
Stavrou Karayanni, through historical investigation, theoretical analysis, and
personal reflection, explores how Middle Eastern dance actively engages race,
sex, and national identity. Close readings of colonial travel narratives, an
examination of Oscar Wilde's Salome, and analyses of treatises about
Greek dance, reveal the intricate ways in which this controversial dance has
been shaped by Eurocentric models that define and control identity performance.
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni's
publications include critical and creative work on culture, politics, gender,
and sexuality in the Middle East. He has presented and performed at
international conferences and cultural festivals. He teaches at Cyprus
College in Nicosia, Cyprus.
He can be contacted at skarayanni@cytanet.com.cy
Reviews
Dancing Fear and
Desire...enables a much-needed, and curiously belated, conversation between
postcolonial and queer studies. And it rediscovers the occulted tradition that
associates critical body with critical mind. Stavros Stavrou brings genuine
understanding and enormous commitment to cross-cultural scholarship,andto the
exhilarating tradition of dance itself. This exuberant book gives whole new
meaning to the discipline of navel-gazing.
-Stephen
Slemon, University of Alberta