Re-Writing History on Screen: Annemarie Jacir&apos;s <i>Salt of This Sea</i>

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 38, Issue 3

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Re-Writing History on Screen: Annemarie Jacir's Salt of This Sea

research-article

Author(s): Kenza Oumlil

Publication date (Print): Summer 2016

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Annemarie Jacir, Palestinian cinema, gender, femininity, masculinity, Arab identity

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Abstract

This article examines how the award winning film Salt of This Sea (2008) responds to dominant gendered representations of Arab and Palestinian identity. The choice of this film is based on its significance as a contemporary cinematic text that aims to present alternative portrayals to those prevalent in the media. Furthermore, Annemarie Jacir is the first Palestinian female filmmaker to make a full-length feature film. The film puts a courageous female character (Soraya—played by Suheir Hammad) at the center of its narrative. It refreshingly departs from inflicting a male gaze on the lead female actor. Salt of This Sea responds to the dominant construction of Arab and Muslim women as passive with the portrayal of a determined heroine. In regard to portrayals of masculinity, the film attempts to challenge the core stereotype of Palestinian men as violent. Overall, the film is part of a movement to re-write a collective history, but it depicts dimensions of Palestinian history that are seldom shown in the mainstream media.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 02713519

ISSN (Electronic): 20436920

Publication date (Print): Summer 2016

Volume: 38

Issue: 3

Pages: 586-600

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.38.3.0586

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.38.3.0586

SO-VID: 735d41ee-1fc5-4f4b-9430-f8a2700691be

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History

References

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Bidou, Jacques, Dumoulin, Marianne (Producers), and Jacir, Annemarie (Director) (2008). Salt of This Sea . Motion Picture. France: JBA Production.
Connell, R. W. (1995) Masculinities . Cambridge: Polity Press.
Consalvo, Mia (2003). The Monsters Next Door: Media Constructions of Boys and Masculinity. Feminist Media Studies , 3(1), 27–45.
Dammann, Laurel (2011). “Annemarie Jacir Learns from the Best.” MovieMaker: The Art and Business of Making Movies . 11 November. Web. Accessed July 19, 2016. <http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/moviemaking/directing/articles-directing/annemarie-jacir-rolex-mentor-when-i-saw-you-zhang-yimou-20111104/>.
Entman, Robert M. (2003). Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame after 9/11. Political Communication , 20(4), 415–432.
Fish, Stanley Eugene (1980). Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gertz, Nurith and Khleifi, George (2011). A Chronicle of Palestinian Cinema. In Film in the Middle East and North Africa: Creative Dissidence , ed. Josef Gugler. 1st ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp. 187–197.
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Jacir, Annemarie (2006). For Cultural Purposes Only: Curating a Palestinian Film Festival. In Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema , eds. Hamid Dabashi and Edward W. Said. London and New York, NY: Verso.
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abu-Lughod, Lila (2002). Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. American Anthropologist , 104(3), 783–790.

[2] Bidou, Jacques, Dumoulin, Marianne (Producers), and Jacir, Annemarie (Director) (2008). Salt of This Sea . Motion Picture. France: JBA Production.

[3] Connell, R. W. (1995) Masculinities . Cambridge: Polity Press.

[4] Consalvo, Mia (2003). The Monsters Next Door: Media Constructions of Boys and Masculinity. Feminist Media Studies , 3(1), 27–45.

[5] Dammann, Laurel (2011). “Annemarie Jacir Learns from the Best.” MovieMaker: The Art and Business of Making Movies . 11 November. Web. Accessed July 19, 2016. <http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/moviemaking/directing/articles-directing/annemarie-jacir-rolex-mentor-when-i-saw-you-zhang-yimou-20111104/>.

[6] Entman, Robert M. (2003). Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame after 9/11. Political Communication , 20(4), 415–432.

[7] Fish, Stanley Eugene (1980). Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[8] Gertz, Nurith and Khleifi, George (2011). A Chronicle of Palestinian Cinema. In Film in the Middle East and North Africa: Creative Dissidence , ed. Josef Gugler. 1st ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp. 187–197.

[9] Ginsburg, Faye D. (2002). Screen Memories: Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media. In Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain , eds. Faye D. Ginsburg, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 39–57.

[10] Ginsburg, Terri and Lippard, Chris (2010). Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema—Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 36 . Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.

[11] Hall, Stuart (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices . London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage in association with The Open University.

[12] Hazzah, Ali (2008). “Fresh Visions: Making Salt of This Sea.” Eye for Film .

[13] Hillauer, Rebecca (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers . Rev. and Updated ed. Cairo, Egypt, and New York, NY: American University in Cairo Press.

[14] Holledge, Richard (2011). “Palestinian Filmmaker Jacir on the Treacherous Road.” Gulf News . 23 December. Web. Accessed 19 July, 2016. <http://gulfnews.com/leisure/movies/palestinian-filmmaker-jacir-on-the-treacherous-road-1.954286>.

[15] hooks, bell (1989). Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black . Boston, MA: South End Press.

[16] hooks, bell (1996). Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies . New York, NY: Routledge.

[17] Inhorn, Maria Claire (2012). The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[18] Jacir, Annemarie (2006). For Cultural Purposes Only: Curating a Palestinian Film Festival. In Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema , eds. Hamid Dabashi and Edward W. Said. London and New York, NY: Verso.

[19] Karim, Karim H. (2000). Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence . Montreal, QC, Canada, and New York, NY: Black Rose Books.

[20] Katz, Jackson (1995). Reconstructing Masculinity in the Locker Room: The Mentors in Violence Prevention Project. Harvard Educational Review , 65(2), 163–175.

[21] Kirby, Sandra L. and McKenna, Kate (Eds.). (1989). Experience Research Social Change: Methods from the Margins . Toronto, ON, Canada: Garamond Press.

[22] Montagner, Kate. (2001). The Whole World Is Watching. Australian Screen Education , 25, 14–17.

[23] Mullenneaux, Lisa (2010). “A Bitter Sea: An Interview with Palestinian Film Director Annemarie Jacir.” Z Magazine . November.

[24] Mulvey, Laura ([1976] 1985). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Movies and Methods: An Anthology , ed. Bill Nichols. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 303–314.

[25] Newman, Michael Z. (2009). Indie Culture: In Pursuit of the Authentic Autonomous Alternative. Cinema Journal , 48(3), 16–34.

[26] Oumlil, Kenza (2013). The Poetry of Suheir Hammad. Feminist Media Studies , 13(5), 850–859.

[27] Razack, Sherene (2008). Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics . Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

[28] Said, Edward W. ([1978] 1994). Orientalism . 25th Anniversary ed. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

[29] Shafik, Viola (2005) Film in Palestine—Palestine in Film. In Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers , ed. Rebecca Hillauer. Rev. and Updated ed. Cairo, Egypt, and New York, NY: American University in Cairo Press, pp. 202–205.

[30] Shaheen, Jack (2001). Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People . New York, NY: Olive Branch Press.

[31] Shohat, Ella. ([1989] 2010). “Postscript.” In Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation . London and New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 249–325.

[32] Stam, Robert and Spence, Louise (1985). Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction. In Movies and Methods: An Anthology , Volume II, ed. Bill Nichols. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[33] Stillman, Sarah (2007). “The Missing White Girl Syndrome”: Disappeared Women and Media Activism. Gender and Development , 15(3), 491–502.

[34] Yeğenoğlu, Meyda (1998). Colonial Fantasies: Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism . Cambridge and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.