Cutting across Imperial Feminisms toward Transnational Feminist Solidarities

Photography, not only by imperial men but also by imperial women, has played a significant role in portraying the Muslim woman as the apolitical exotic of orientalist fantasies, its legacies haunting the media of the global North even today. Imperial feminist representations about Muslim women have also marked the rhetoric of Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Cherie Booth, and Condoleezza Rice. In contrast, this article draws on various photographic counter-narratives, amongthem "the girl in the blue bra," that transnational feminists circulated through social media during the 2011 people's uprising in Egypt as well as on the iconic pan-Arab feminist leader Huda Shaarawi to evoke powerful images of Muslim women. Finally, the essay turns to transnational feminists such as Angela Davis, Trinh T. Minhha, Cynthia Enloe, Miriam Cooke, and Zillah Eisenstein for cross-border feminist work that cuts across imperial feminist practices.