Unveiling the harem [electronic resource] : elite women and the paradox of seclusion in eighteenth-century Cairo / Mary Ann Fay.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reimagining the harem: from orientalist fantasies to historical reconstruction -- Egypt in the eighteenth century: the transition from the medieval to the early modern -- Slaves in the family: Islam, household slavery, and the construction of kinship -- The Mamluk household: how a house became a home -- Mamluk women and the Egyptian economy: a comparative perspective on women's property rights -- The city as text: space, gender, and power in Cairo -- The architecture of seclusion: in search of the historical harem -- Everyday life in the harem -- Changing the subject: gender and the history of the Mamluk revival -- Epilogue.

Description based on print version record.