Womanist Play, At Play

In: https://digitalcollections.saic.edu/islandora/object/islandora%3Athesis_39769

Abstract

Recognizing play as a feminist act to approaching disobedience and survival, this thesis is planned around the question: Is play a suitable feminist strategy of disruption and protest that is veiled enough to exist within the lines of appropriate behavior for the Qatari woman artist? By highlighting a number of contemporary feminists, artists, and writers where play is evident in their work, including a summary of the examples that Carrie Lambert-Beatty outlines in her essay: "Make-Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility," it will build the necessary image of how context can be approached as a playground. This thesis is structured into four main sections where each section informs the other with an emphasis on three main areas: 1) Cultural Politics, 2) Being a Woman, 3) Womanist Play. Also included, some drawings and writings from one of the artist's projects: Hair Drawing, and Hair and Drawing, a project that is usually misread if not presented with or within the context that it deals with; therefore, being included in this thesis should provide the necessary layer and depth that it needs.