Performing Sheherazade: Arab-American Women's Contestations of Identity‪.‬

Arab-American one-woman shows and women's stand-up comedy routines have actively worked to refashion collective cultural productions, particularly within a post-9/11 context. These performances are consistent with the ways that many diasporic writers attempt to inscribe orality in their writing by directly connecting their work to oral tradition. Arab-American women re-engage with The Thousand and One Nights and its famed storyteller Sheherazade by repositioning her experiences. Thus, they revive the idea of the infinite creativity originally ascribed to The Nights. Dispersion of stereotypes becomes a governing goal of these women's performances--as identities, affiliations, and collective cultural allegiances are explored and negotiated. **********