The Representations of Women in Saudi Caricatures, 1960-2016

Abstract

This thesis offers an examination of the representation of women and its evolution in Saudi caricature from the emergence of caricature in the Saudi press in 1960 to 2016, covering a period over half a century, based on Roland Barthes’s theory of mythology. The study examines caricatures in three newspapers: the well-established al-Jazirah and Okaz, and the more recent Makkah. To explore the patriarchal mythical discourse about women and its evolution in their representation in these newspapers, it situates the caricature in the socio-political, socio-economic, socio-cultural, and socio-religious contexts that produced it, by dividing the historical period into three periods: 1960-1989, 1990-2005 and 2006-2016. The Barthesian theory opens space to reflect upon how Saudi caricatures were mainly used as a means of social control. It also encourages examination of the ways in which the medium constituted a fertile environment for the dissemination, circulation and perpetuation of various patriarchal myths about women, the most prominent of which is the objectification of women, using women as tools for ideological conflict or to pressurize men, using the female and femininity as symbols upon which to project various negative patriarchal concepts, or holding women responsible for the wrongs of society. In addition, it identifies the development of a free, authentic, feminine discourse in the third period of the study, which if it had continued would have been able to break many myths about women and challenge many taboos. Finally, it notes the emergence of a new caricatural discourse supportive of women, in line with the contemporary political changes taking place in Saudi Arabia.