Drawing the Complexity of Muslimah Identity: A Review of Sophia Rose Arjana's Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture

Abstract

Book Review| December 01 2019 Drawing the Complexity of Muslimah Identity: A Review of Sophia Rose Arjana's Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture, by Sophia Rose Arjana. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018). 178 pages. $90.00 cloth. JoAnna Boudreaux JoAnna Boudreaux JoAnna Boudreaux is a PhD student in the Department of Communication and Film at the University of Memphis. Correspondence to: JoAnna Boudreaux, 212 Art and Communication Building, 3715 Central Avenue, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. Email: Jbdreaux@memphis.edu. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Departures in Critical Qualitative Research (2019) 8 (4): 118–121. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2019.8.4.118 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation JoAnna Boudreaux; Drawing the Complexity of Muslimah Identity: A Review of Sophia Rose Arjana's Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research 1 December 2019; 8 (4): 118–121. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2019.8.4.118 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentDepartures in Critical Qualitative Research Search Orientalism ushered in a collection of powerful and stereotypical images portraying the Islamic world as backward and inferior (1–4). Particularly, the Muslim woman (Muslimah) appears in Western literary and artistic imaginings as a passive subject, a veiled trope, and an object (or purveyor) of violence. In the past few years, creators of Muslimah superheroes have emerged to invert the lens and provide alternative portrayals of Muslim women. Sophia Rose Arjana's Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture offers a creative analysis of the understudied topic of Muslimah superheroes in comics and animations. Her work is organized into five chapters, with the first two chapters providing a historical overview of the representation of Muslim women in Western media, and subsequent chapters focusing on specific character case studies. Arjana analyzes Muslimah superheroes from the United States, Pakistan, Egypt, and Kuwait, including Ms. Marvel, Burka Avenger, Qahera, Raat, and Bloody Nasreen. While each... You do not currently have access to this content.