harem

harem The arabic word harem derives its original spelling and meaning from the Egyptian word harim, meaning ‘women’. Originally, it was in the women's part of a Mohammedan dwelling-house that its inhabitants and the place were seen as sacred.

The harem can also be referred to as a seraglio (meaning, ‘the walled palace’), wherein the sultan's wives, children, divorced wives, concubines, slaves, and eunuchs might live. As Alain Grosrichard states in Structure du serail (1979):
The order of the seraglio is set with the despot in view and according to his needs, and most of all for sexual pleasure which begins with the privilege of sight.Though an isolated domain, harems in the nineteenth century became known to tradesmen and merchants who would wait outside the main gates for an invitation to show their wares to the women indoors.

The harem and the odalisque (a reclining female nude or semi-nude) have increasingly become North Africa's cultural icons, dominating visual perceptions in the European mind. Particularly influential in visually capturing such images in the nineteenth century were a group of French and British painters known as The Orientalists. Artists included Eugene Delacroix, Jean–Dominique Ingres, J– L. Gerome, and Frederick Leighton.

Anne Abichou

Bibliography

Alloula, M. (1987). The colonial harem, (trans. M. Godzich and and W. Godzich ). Manchester University Press, Manchester.
Badran, M. (1987). Harem years: the memoirs of an Egyptian feminist, (trans. Badran). Feminist Press, New York.