Neither Veiled Nor Exposed: Lessons in Particularity from Reading Lolita in Tehran

Abstract

This article suggests that particular narratives of Muslim women can contribute to understanding perceptions of the “other.” Our readings of and reactions to Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books can create productive dialogue that reduces the tendency to essentialize Muslim women as oppressed. Through associative thinking and free inquiry, readers can enter into the narratives to expose the dangers that women face.