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Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others
Abstract
This article explores the ethics of the current "War on Terrorism, asking whether anthropology, the discipline devoted to understanding and dealing with cultural difference, can provide us with critical purchase on the justifications made for American intervention in Afghanistan in terms of liberating, or saving, Afghan women. I look first at the dangers of reifying culture, apparent in the tendencies to plaster neat cultural icons like the Muslim woman over messy historical and political dynamics. Then, calling attention to the resonances of contemporary discourses on equality, freedom, and rights with earlier colonial and missionary rhetoric on Muslim women, I argue that we need to develop, instead, a serious appreciation of differences among women in the world—as products of different histories, expressions of different circumstances, and manifestations of differently structured desires. Further, I argue that rather than seeking to "save" others (with the superiority it implies and the violences it would entail) we might better think in terms of (1) working with them in situations that we recognize as always subject to historical transformation and (2) considering our own larger responsibilities to address the forms of global injustice that are powerful shapers of the worlds in which they find themselves. I develop many of these arguments about the limits of "cultural relativism" through a consideration of the burqa and the many meanings of veiling in the Muslim world. [Keywords: cultural relativism, Muslim women, Afghanistan war, freedom, global injustice, colonialism]
... This scarcity of accurate analytical perspectives, particularly about Arab women, is primarily due to the restricted visibility of literature providing different experiences of Arab women (Afshar, 2016). Moreover, most studies that explored the representation of Arab women (e.g., Abu-Lughod, 2002;Ayotte & Husain, 2005;Jiwani, 2006) approached the topic from an Orientalist perspective using framing theory. The foundation of framing theory is that the media pays considerable attention to certain events and people, subsequently framing them with specific meanings. ...
... This representation significantly impacts non-Arab perceptions, fostering stereotypes rooted in misconceptions about governance, corruption, and patriarchal oppression in Arab societies (Rahman, 2012). Western media's association of Islam with gender oppression exacerbates these stereotypes, ignoring the complexities of cultural and religious contexts (Abu-Lughod, 2002;Mishra, 2007;Navarro, 2010;). Bashatah (2017) attributes these misrepresentations to Western media's lack of factual grounding, insufficient understanding of cultural differences, and inadequate recognition of Arab women's roles in various spheres of life. ...
... In fact, the findings of the present study, juxtaposed with those from previous research (e.g., Abu-Lughod, 2002;Aburwein, 2003;Kasirye, 2021;Mishra, 2007;Navarro, 2010;Oumlil, 2016;Rahman, 2012), offer a comprehensive perspective on the evolving portrayal of Arab women in media across different cultural contexts. The current study reveals a dichotomy in the depiction of Arab women: Arab media, specifically outlets like the Gulf Times and Arab News, portray Arab women as empowered, skilled, and actively engaged in various sectors, including business and leadership. ...
This study examines the portrayal of Arab women in both Arab and Western newspapers in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. It aims to uncover concealed ideologies, concepts, and beliefs held by Arab and Western societies regarding Arab women. Employing Fairclough's three-dimensional Approach to Discourse Analysis as a theoretical framework, the analysis considers the dimensions of discourse fragment (text), discursive practices, and the power dynamics inherent in discourse. Additionally, the study adopts a qualitative approach for collecting and analysing the selected data. Four prominent newspapers, namely the Washington Post, Daily Mail, Arab News, and Gulf Times, were chosen for the study. The findings reveal notable disparities in the depiction of Arab women in Arab and Western media. In Arab newspapers, Arab women are often portrayed as empowered, respected, skilled, educated, and capable contributors to economic and social life. They are occasionally depicted as businesswomen and leaders. Conversely, some Western media tend to portray Arab women as oppressed, subjugated, veiled, plagued by inequality, hidden from view, and restricted by religious rules concerning marriage and dress. They are even referred to as literal odalisques. The study concludes that these varied depictions stem from distinct ideologies prevalent in Arab and Western media. The insights derived from this research regarding the diverse portrayals of Arab women and the influence of different ideologies in Arab and Western media can be valuable for academics, government officials, and community organizations seeking innovative perspectives on women's media representation and active participation in society.
... Abu-Lughod's seminal work on the representation of Muslim women in Western discourses provides a theoretical framework for this analysis. By challenging the prevalent stereotypes and misconceptions about Muslim women, her insights guide our investigation into how cultural prejudices are embedded within public policies and media portrayals in IKN [14,15]. Similarly, Qomar's methodological perspec-tives on religious research offer a structured approach to examining the religious dimensions of the jilbab ban, allowing us to explore how religious freedom is nego-tiated and contested within the legal and social fabric of IKN [16]. ...
... This method is particularly suited to examine the complex interactions between gender, religion, and public policy. The theoretical framework guiding this research includes the critique of cultural repre-sentation and the problem of cultural relativism, as discussed by Lila Abu-Lughod in her influential work "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" [14]. ...
... Abu-Lughod in the article "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" criticizes the use of cultural symbols such as the jilbab by outsiders as a means of justifying interventions that often do not understand the local context. This view is particularly relevant in the context of the jilbab ban in PASKIBRAKA IKN, where the decision to ban the use of the jilbab in public spaces actually perpetuates negative stereotypes of Muslim women and ignores the personal and spiritual meaning of the symbol [14]. In addition, referring to the Qur'anic verse surah Al-Ahzab (33:59): ...
... The backdrop of their entrepreneurial undertakings remains profoundly enmeshed within the socio-cultural milieu they inhabit. Thus, conceiving women as subjects of development perpetuates their immersion in an ongoing historical and political process of reshaping, moulded by multifarious influences encompassing dominant ideological constructs of modernity, nationstate formation, and modern development (Abu-Lughod, 2002). Depicting women as entrepreneurs oversimplifies the complex interplay of their intersecting socio-religious and economic identities, thus diminishing their political influence and historical background (Sen, 2018). ...
... However, the backdrop against which women's entrepreneurial endeavours unfold is deeply interwoven with the socio-cultural environment they inhabit. Consequently, regarding women merely as subjects of development perpetuates their immersion in an ongoing historical and political process of transformation, influenced by a range of factors, including prevailing ideologies of modernity, nation-state formation, and traditionalism (Abu-Lughod, 2002, 1998). An alternative viewpoint, one that considers women both as entrepreneurs and as subjects of development, provides a clearer understanding of entrepreneurial initiatives in Gilgit-Baltistan. ...
... A number of scholars and practitioners note that signi cant among the various stereotypes of Islam, is a narrative that presents it as a misogynist faith that is unfair to women. Muslim women are fetishised as either oppressed, exotic or in need of saving (Richardson 2007, Abu Lughod 2002. In my doctoral research with young Muslim women, I worked with them to create short digital stories that I then shared with people who were not Muslim (2012). ...
... at Muslim women are stereotyped in popular discourse is o -repeated in academic literature (Afshar 2008, Badran 2008, Richardson 2007, Abu Lughod 2002. What is less recognised is women's key roles in cultural transmission and in dialogue. ...
... Cultural relativism toys overtly with the belief that persons and human groups are based on signs and symbols based on their culture, which are Introduction xvii not exchanged or cannot be compared to other cultural backgrounds. To put it bluntly, cultural relativism argues convincingly that the values and norms (as well as rites and practices) in one culture must not be evaluated by ethnographers or outsiders (Abu-Lughod, 2002;. As Amanda eloquently observes, tourism anthropology should contribute to expanding research over the current hegemony of touristcentricity. ...
... Cultural relativism toys overtly with the belief that persons and human groups are based on signs and symbols based on their culture, which are Introduction xvii not exchanged or cannot be compared to other cultural backgrounds. To put it bluntly, cultural relativism argues convincingly that the values and norms (as well as rites and practices) in one culture must not be evaluated by ethnographers or outsiders (Abu-Lughod, 2002;. As Amanda eloquently observes, tourism anthropology should contribute to expanding research over the current hegemony of touristcentricity. ...
Drawing inspiration from Davydd Greenwood’s “Culture by the Pound,” this chapter delves into tourism development from an introspective viewpoint. Based on my 13 years of living and working in Lisbon, I have crafted four vignettes from fragmented memories to explore the evolu- tion of tourism with poignant emotions as it became interwoven into everyday life. Reflecting on my experiences, I provide an analysis of informal development, which arises from a grassroots perspective when tourism occurs spontaneously and without management. Local residents utilized existing resources for tourism purposes, shaping their own tourist activities. Ultimately, I underscore the significance of examining tourism development beyond structured planning and acknowledging its organic growth and transformation.
... It is crucial to recognize the diversity of experiences and perceptions, check our analysis of the data with participants whenever possible, and to understand that we are not immune from misconceptions. We need to recognize that the participants' priorities and demands may be different from our own (Abu-Lughod 2002). ...
This article explores the author's personal and professional challenges as a feminist and the strategies employed to address them. It focuses on the interplay of knowledge production, positionality, and ethical considerations in contexts of conflict and trauma, and it explores the complexities of intertwining personal experiences with academic inquiry. After highlighting personal struggles of navigating two worlds, the author emphasizes the importance of a reflexive and ethical approach in feminist research that involves navigating power relations and positionality, managing expectations, and responding to the needs on the ground. It ends with addressing both a personal backlash the author experienced and critiques directed toward feminist work in the region. Drawing on her experiences in conducting PhD research with Kurdish women refugees in the UK, postdoctoral research on women survivors of the Anfal genocide in Kurdistan, and a comparative analysis of the experiences of women survivors of the Anfal and Yezidi genocides, the article provides insights into the intricate landscape of feminist research in challenging contexts.
... From my feminist perspective, I consider key possibilities of the co-existence of Islam, Muslim knowledge, Indigenous cosmology, and feminism. I agree with other scholars, including Mohanty (1991), Ahmed (2000), Abu-Lughod (2002), Ahmed (2004) and Nagar and Geiger (2007), that how to engage with the colonial-to redefine and review the concepts and categories upon which Western feminism bases its arguments-is a tremendous challenge facing feminist theory today. Decolonial, religious, anti-racist, and anti-colonial scholars and struggles have already made the critique of many Western feminist assumptions about, for example, female agency (such as norms of motherhood, beauty, and the way in which the subject thinks of such issues from her normative and ethical perspective) being derived from an exclusively Western idea of norm, role, and social and moral order. ...
Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) is a rare genetic disorder affecting 1 in 10,000 to 30,000 people worldwide, characterized by growth retardation, distinctive facial features, and intellectual disability. This study assesses public knowledge of CdLS in Indonesia through a 30-question online survey. Sixty-five participants responded, 36.9% men and 63.1% women, aged 17-62, with most holding a Bachelor’s Degree or higher. Results show that 60% have heard of CdLS, while 40% have not. Most (89.2%) do not have family members with CdLS, and 80% do not know anyone with family members affected. All respondents understood the general definition, but only 73.8% correctly identified signs of CdLS. Among women, 96.9% understood the nutritional needs of CdLS patients, though 3.1% did not. Overall, 95.4% of parents grasp the main challenges in caring for children with CdLS. The study concludes that while general awareness of CdLS is good, knowledge about its specific signs, symptoms, and care requirements needs improvement. Although there is no specific dietary program for those with CdLS, supplementation and proper nutrition of natural foods can help overcome some of the symptoms and related health problems. Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, probiotics, and zinc are some important nutrients, while gluten, dairy products, and processed foods should be avoided. Consultation with a nutritionist or doctor is highly recommended to determine the diet that best suits the needs of individuals with CdLS. Keywords: Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, nutrition, community-based care, families as caregivers
... To be clear, I am not arguing, as so many Orientalist descriptions of pious clothing continue to claim, that it is inherently oppressive for women because they cover out of "shame." That widely critiqued perspective fails to understand the residential, ethical, and aesthetic features of sociality in the regions where modest dress is closely tied to embodied systems of honor (e.g., Abu-Lughod 2002;Ahmed 1982;Mahmood 2005). Although the forms of kinship and residential marriage patterns that were most associated with Arab genres of modest clothing, for men and women, have no parallels in Indonesia, the emergence of urban, stylish, youthful modest clothing was equally disconnected from associations with women's subjugation to the domestic sphere, or any sense of embarrassment. 10 In fact, most Muslim women in Indonesia follow the Shafi'i branch of Islamic law, which explicitly excludes the face from the category of aurat, or bodily zones that require modesty. ...
In the two decades since the end of Suharto regime in Indonesia, two apparently distinct public industries have emerged in tandem: gendered forms of religious style, glossed as modest fashion, and legal efforts to hold citizens accountable for theft, glossed as corruption. Many of the most high-profile anti-corruption cases in the past decade have brought these two fields into semiotic interaction, as female defendants increasingly deploy forms of facial cover associated with extreme religious piety to signal humility and shame when appearing in court, in the process complicating the relationship between religious semiotics and criminality. Analyzing how and why these two genres of political communication have intersected in the past decade, and to what effects, requires situating these shifts in the context of dense aesthetic archives in which the spectacularity inherent to fashion resonates with the unique impulses of a post-authoritarian political landscape in which uncovering secrets is especially alluring. I argue that the hermeneutic impulses motivating popular fascination with criminal style, often circulated via social media, open new analyses of the ethical relationship between beauty and justice. Building on the scholarship on transparency and on the human face, I argue that putting gendered religious style at the center of the analytical frame—from religious self-fashioning to court appearances, and as forms of political protest—reveals the ethical impulses behind seeing and being seen, and the faciality of scandal.
... Cultural relativism toys overtly with the belief that persons and human groups are based on signs and symbols based on their culture, which are Introduction xvii not exchanged or cannot be compared to other cultural backgrounds. To put it bluntly, cultural relativism argues convincingly that the values and norms (as well as rites and practices) in one culture must not be evaluated by ethnographers or outsiders (Abu-Lughod, 2002;. As Amanda eloquently observes, tourism anthropology should contribute to expanding research over the current hegemony of touristcentricity. ...
... "Whose Voices? Whose Choices?...", andAbu-Lughod, L. (2002). "Do Muslim women really need saving?" ...
This handbook captures the learnings of nearly eight years of committed effort to undo the colonial assumptions that define so much of international development by fulfilling the radical transformative potential of education. After continuous experimentation and refinement in the classroom, and with the active participation of our students and alumni, as well as the generous material support of The Spencer Foundation, we are eager to pass on this collection of pedagogies, learning objectives, principles, resources and activities to the like-minded teachers, practitioners and activists who share our passion for the possibilities of education to move the world toward justice and thriving.
... But it was not long before the Taliban regrouped and launched their 'defensive jihad' against US and NATO forces. 30 Within 29 Some analysts opine that in the run-up to the invasion of Afghanistan, imperial and white feminism fuelled a legitimating discourse for the Western military operations, which at the time were partly depicted as a 'rescue mission' for Afghan women (see Abu-Lughod 2002;Zakaria 2021, Chapter 4). 30 It has been widely reported that following their defeat, the Taliban offered to recognise the legitimacy of, or even participate in, the emerging political setup in Afghanistan in exchange for allowing Mullah Omar and the group's members to live in peace and dignity (see, for instance, Coll 2018, 141;Gopal, 2010;Thomas 2021, 3 two decades of the insurgency, a dazzling shift in the dynamics of the Afghan conflict and the international standing of the Taliban occurred when the US extended an olive branch to them in February 2020. ...
This article analyses the inter-connection between the Taliban’s international fortunes and their political worldview and value rationality. Drawing on their discourse and expert interviews, the paper offers an explanation for the Taliban’s return to Kabul and hitherto lack of explicit official recognition despite their manifold external relations. Spanning three decades, the Taliban’s ideational canon has proved to be a double-edged sword in their pursuit of international legitimacy. As insurgents (2001–2021), it underpinned their remarkable battlefield and governance resilience, contributing to their restoration to power. As rulers (1996–2001 and 2021–present), it has put them on a collision course with certain international norms and security interests, precipitating the downfall of the first Emirate and lingering concerns about the second. This enquiry into the Taliban’s creed is not only crucial for grasping the intricacies of their precarious international standing but also addresses a shortcoming in Western scholarship, where the role of the group’s value system in wearing down—and ultimately outlasting—the Western occupation is often overlooked.
... By making Nuril the face of the Indonesian #MeToo movement and relating her identity to her religion (Islam) vis-à-vis the White celebrities, Nisa reminds us of the existing tension between secular Western feminists and Muslim women. Several feminists have indeed criticised Western feminism for its emphasis on secularism, and its ignorance of the struggle of religious and, especially, Muslim women (Scott 2018;Abu-Lughod 2002). ...
... Yet much caution should be exercised before claiming a deterministic link between this context and a supposed effect on GBV, especially as pervasive discourse instrumentalizing the oppression of women by political Islam may skew interpretations [16]. At country-level, the pretense of religion to perpetrate violence against women is actively fought against, as is illustrated in the case against female genital mutilation (FGM). ...
Since 2017, six specialized care units, the USPEC (Unités Spéciales de Prise en Charge) have been implemented in Mauritanian hospitals with the support of the international organization Médicos del Mundo. They provide healthcare and comprehensive assistance to victims of gender-based violence (GBV), such as sexual violence (SV), intimate-partner violence (IPV), female genital mutilation (FGM), adolescent pregnancy and child marriage. In this retrospective, observational study, we investigated the caseload of the six USPEC countrywide between January 1st, 2018, and June 30th, 2023. We analyzed consultation data, victims’ sociodemographic characteristics, types of violence they were subjected to, specific patterns–location, relationship with the perpetrator, reoccurrence–, and medical care they received. 3550 cases were attended to, with a threefold increase in the mean number of monthly cases between 2018 and 2023. Women and girls accounted for 95.1% of victims; 78.7% were under 18 years old and 21.9% were under 12. All male victims (n = 172) were children. SV represented 79.8% of the caseload, early marriage/pregnancy 10.4%, IPV 7%, and FGM 0.7%. 80% of perpetrators were known to the victims, and the acts of violence had taken place in the victims´ own home for 60%. The proportion of cases received within 72 hours increased noticeably within the first two years before stabilizing at an average 81.3%. 7.21% of patients received local or surgical treatment and 1.8% were hospitalized. After SV, 996 received emergency contraception while 627, who sought care with delay, were already pregnant. Our findings suggest that the USPEC model responds to both victims’ and the health system’s needs to address GBV. Prevention, declaration and follow-up of pregnancy as a result of SV in young girls, likely constituted a major motivation for healthcare-seeking, yet more research is needed to document bottlenecks faced by GBV victims to access such services.
... This research paper embarks on an exploration of the intricate interplay between the hijab and the identities of Muslim women living in Western contexts [1]. The sociocultural dynamics of the hijab extend beyond its religious significance to encompass broader notions of personal, communal, and societal identity [18]. ...
This study investigates the nuanced relationship between the hijab, identity, and sociocultural influences among Muslim women in the West. Employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, the research aims to understand the diverse meanings attached to the hijab and the sociocultural dynamics shaping its practices. The research problem stems from the necessity to explore how Muslim women in the West experience and interpret the hijab within the complex interplay of identity, sociocultural factors, and a sense of belonging. The study pursues three main objectives; to uncover the layered significance of the hijab, to analyze sociocultural influences impacting hijab practices, and to examine the intersection of identity and belonging in relation to the hijab. The novelty of this study lies in the application of the Hijab Identity Matrix framework, providing a structured approach to analyze the interplay of identity and sociocultural influences related to the hijab. The research addresses a gap in the current literature by systematically exploring the multifaceted meanings of the hijab among Muslim women in the Western context. This study opens a new avenue for future research, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive discourse surrounding the hijab and its meanings. Qualitative data is collected through in-depth interviews with Muslim women in Western societies. Thematic analysis, a robust method for identifying patterns and themes, is applied to the collected data using NVivo 12 for management and analysis. A novel aspect of this research is the application of the Hijab Identity Matrix framework designed to encapsulate the multifaceted relationship between the hijab, identity, and sociocultural factors. Comprising three interconnected dimensions aligned with the research objectives, this framework offers a unique lens for comprehending the complex phenomenon, structuring the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data. The principal findings provide insights into the diverse meanings attributed to the hijab by Muslim women, the role of sociocultural influences in shaping these meanings, and the intersection of the hijab with identity and belonging in Western societies. This study contributes to existing literature by offering a comprehensive perspective on the hijab beyond its religious connotations, enriching our understanding of broader sociocultural dynamics.
This article will examine how rural Afghan women employ practices of everyday resistance as a means of challenging extremely patriarchal power structures and male domination in Afghanistan. The research presented illustrates how rural women simultaneously support and reproduce patriarchal societal structures and values through quiet encroachment of public spaces and the labour market as well as conscious adherence to certain patriarchal norms. Through a qualitative research method consisting of eleven focus groups with 130 rural women from four districts, across two provinces in Afghanistan, a structurationist approach is employed in order to fully account for the interaction and interrelationship between dominant, male-privileging structures of power and rural women's agency. Significantly, these women, through the intentions behind their practices of everyday resistance and encroachment upon public spaces, demonstrate that they do not wish to eradicate patriarchy, but rather to transform it into a more benign structure of power which conforms to the women's interpretation of Islam. This is a construction of Islam which accommodates women as individuals with agency and ability, enabling them to take advantage of independent mobility, provide for their families, and send their children (sons and daughters) to school. Thus, these women deliberately engage in everyday resistance to extreme manifestations of patriarchy, but simultaneously consciously adhere to, and subtly advocate for, more benevolent patriarchal social norms.
In this article, I analyse the complexity of the status of “migrant” in relation to myths of belonging and what we call “home”. I look at status labels that Iranian border-crossers embrace after migrating to the Global North and the ways in which they practice adaptability in accordance with the systemic and structural meanings associated with their migration status and their racial complexity. Ethnic and Racial labels adopted by Iranian migrants can include “Persian”, “Iranian”, “Middle Eastern”, “White”, or “Aryan”, and migration status labels range from “migrant” to “refugees and asylum seekers”, “exiles”, “expats” etc. Using a mixed approach of digital ethnographies, autoethnography and textual analysis, together with an intersectional and decolonial lens, I investigate the ways in which migration status such as skilled categories are associated with not only “fitting” into the neoliberal and capitalist systems of border crossing but also “blending” into racial hierarchies and maintaining class status post migration within White contexts. This article takes an empathetic approach to the lived experiences of minority and racially complex migrants and emphasises the epistemic value of their narratives and the ways in which these stories can inform us about the covert systemic structural and racially loaded bias that exists within migration economies of the Global North.
Sosyal bilimlerin genelinde yaygın olan ve uzmanlaşmayı da beraberinde getiren Ortadoğu, Akdeniz, Avrupa, Latin Amerika gibi bölgelendirmeler, farklı açılardan zaman zaman eleştirilir. Sosyal ve kültürel antropoloji, bu bölgelerin çizilmesinde ve onların içeriğini belirleyen kavramsallaştırmalarda etkili olmuştur. Bu nedenle bu makale, tarihten uluslararası ilişkilere kadar geniş bir disiplin ağında yerleşik olan “bölgelendirme geleneğini” bunun yerleşmesinde geniş bir payı olduğu düşünülen sosyal ve kültürel antropolojinin, özellikle 1970’lerden itibaren gelişmesinde de etkili olan kuramsal ve kavramsal eleştirilerden yararlanarak değerlendirmektedir. Bu bağlamda coğrafyanın, on dokuzuncu ve yirminci yüzyıllarda antropoloji içindeki rolü de ele alınmaktadır. Konunun tarihsel ve coğrafi açıdan hayli geniş bir alanı içermesi nedeniyle tartışma zemini, Türkiye ve çevresi bağlamında oluşturulmakta, “Ortadoğu”, “Akdeniz” ve “Avrupa” bölgelendirmelerine odaklamaktadır. Sonuç olarak antropolojideki coğrafi nitelikli görünen bu sınırlandırma ve açıklama çabası, dönemin güncel siyasetiyle örtüşen, bir anlama ve anlatma kaygısıdır. Ancak sabit kavramsallaştırmalar üzerinden bölgelere ilişkin imgelere, stereotiplere ve damgalamalara dönüşebilecek bir eğilim de söz konusudur.
This article encounters the shadows of coloniality from the vantage point of the two-dimensional. Spotlighting the queer and trans dance of interdisciplinary artist Zavé Martohardjono, the author traces the connections between diasporic gesture, cultural erasure, and land in the context of a shifting Indonesian governance, arguing that the distinct register of the two-dimensional—the flat space of virtual mediums like Zoom—allows the past to touch the present, and enables the viewer to unwind from colonialism’s grip on bodily movement. In doing so, the article observes the dance between dimensionality and embodiment, and the colonial shadows that linger in between, in order to forward new ways of anti-colonial feeling and being within the colonial present.
This study offers a postcolonial feminist reading of Nawal El Saadawi's novel Woman at Point Zero (1975), examining how the novel addresses essentialist and reductionist narratives of female genital mutilation (FGM), kinship structures and religion in the context of Egypt. The paper argues that through her protagonist, Firdaus, El Saadawi depicts FGM not only as a form of violence against women but also as a symptom of deeper structural oppression rooted in patriarchy, capitalism and the misrepresentation and misinterpretation of religion. The idea is to read the novel as a female Bildungsroman, drawing attention to the specific experiences of Firdaus within a particular historical and socio-cultural background. Drawing on the concepts of intersectionality, power and resistance, the paper examines how Firdaus's story highlights the multifaceted and context-specific nature of these forces, demonstrating that they do not function autonomously but instead intersect and interrelate in intricate ways, culminating in a distinctive set of conditions that profoundly influence her desires, relationships, identity and experience.
This article follows traders and entrepreneurs that live and work between Kyrgyzstan and China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. Looking specifically at Islamic marriage and business partnerships forged between persecuted Uyghurs and their Uzbek partners, it argues that commodity‐mediated forms of transnational intimacy create spaces of safety and possibility in the face of political oppression, carceral violence, and gendered limitations. These transnational mobilities are forged in spite of structural immobilities. Taking seriously the imbrications of objects and people, it advances a view of intimacy as a multi‐scalar, trans‐subjective, and multiply entangled field of relationality.
Political and popular tropes portray Muslims as monolithically, uniquely, and inherently patriarchal and misogynistic—a phenomenon of which Muslims are acutely aware. This study asks whether and how Islamophobic tropes influence Muslims’ gender ideologies. Using life history interviews with Muslim Americans, we find a diversity of gender beliefs, challenging the discourses that frame Muslims’ gender ideologies as monolithic. Four major typologies emerge in our data: Loyalist Complementarians, Patriarchal Reactionaries, Critical Egalitarians, and Reformist Egalitarians. These beliefs are multifaceted and are composed of a dialogic exchange between beliefs toward gender relations, perceptions of Islamic doctrine, and negotiation with what we call the Orientalist gaze. Each group navigates how their ideas about gender fit into or challenge a broader society that is scrutinizing Muslims, and each group articulates their gender beliefs through and against Islamophobic discourse, a process akin to walking an Orientalism tightrope.
By challenging postcolonial theory's “methodological dualism,” this article explores non-Western intersocietal encounters and interactions that facilitated the vanguard role of the Kurdish region of Iran (Rojhelat) in the country's “woman, life, freedom” revolutionary movement. The neglect of inter-subaltern interactions within the framework of methodological dualism has rendered it incapable of explaining the agential entanglement of “inter-subaltern colonialism” and gender in the non-Western nation-building process and its subsequent impact on the affected groups. Addressing this limitation, the author argues that Rojhelat's vanguard position arises from the strategic deployment of patriarchal gender norms in Iran's nation-building process characterized by “inter-subaltern colonialism” before and after the 1979 revolution. Anti-patriarchal tendencies within the left faction of the Kurdish national movement in Rojhelat emerged in response to this context, rendering it receptive to the slogan “woman, life, freedom,” which originally emerged through the Kurdish freedom movement in Turkey and Syria. Furthermore, the centrality of gender in the Islamic Republic of Iran's exceptionalist geopolitical discourses has made the slogan a powerful tool for expressing opposition to the state and mobilizing multiple oppressed groups.
This chapter situates the discussion on Islamophobia and the Muslim experience in Canada within media discourses on LGBTIQ Muslim identities. I begin with a survey of contemporary Islamophobia in Canada, finding how it connects to a matrix of popular fears related to security, culture, and identity. I follow this with a media analysis of news stories covering (1) the 2015 “barbaric cultural practices tip-line”; (2) Parliamentary motion M-103 condemning Islamophobia, and (3) stories on the experiences of Canadian LGBTIQ Muslims. I ask how LGBTIQ Muslims, and by extension, Islam and homosexuality, are represented in Canadian media, and in what ways narratives surrounding sexual diversity politics manifest in news stories on Islam and Muslims. My findings suggest the endurance of orientalist depictions of Western superiority (homonationalism) and of Islam as a threat to Canadian values and as hostile to sexual diversity and gender equality. At the same time, media representations of LGBTIQ Muslim Canadians overturn negative stereotypes on Muslim migrants in Canada and complicate impressions on the irreconcilability of Islam and homosexuality.
Informed by intersectional feminist sensibilities, this compilation of four critical interventions weaves together existing and emergent threads of women’s studies to interrogate one-dimensional framings of global policy, rights and development in hegemonic discourse. Attending to contemporary geopolitical issues as diverse as they are rich, what interconnects these seemingly disparate sites of complexity and contestation is a politics of un/re/claiming. ‘Instrumental Women or Women-as-Instruments? Assessing Gender Mainstreaming and Claims to Microcredit’ problematises the myriad ways in which economic (dis)empowerment, vis-à-vis the staking of microcredit claims, is constitutive of and constituted by neoliberal globalisation. ‘Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Territorial Resource Claims and the Feminisation of Global Agricultural Production’ navigates topographies of agricultural supply-chain management to tease out the textured intersections between global(ised) trade, natural resource claims and gendered labour divisions. Straddling the neoliberal epoch’s hyper-precarious borders and boundaries, patient lifeworlds are multiply inflected by their in/capacity to articulate healthcare-based claims - ‘Patienthood and its Dis/claimers: Embodied Citizenship Politics in Neoliberal Welfare Restructuring’ invokes an anthropologically-attuned analytic frame to unearth such ambivalences. Finally, ‘On Wendy Brown’s “Suffering Rights as Paradoxes”: Theorising the Im/possibility of Rights-Based Claims’ offers an incisive, nuanced commentary on Wendy Brown’s seminal scholarship in search of new political and epistemological possibilities for redressing rights-based claims.
Pakistan’s sartorial dress, the shalwar kameez, consists of a tunic and loose pants, typically augmented by a scarf for women. Versions of this attire have been a hallmark for Pakistani women in politics for decades. However, during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tenure (2018–2022), a groundbreaking departure unfolded. The country witnessed a significant shift when first lady Bushra Maneka diverged from tradition, publicly adopting a distinctively modern purdah, a form of cloak that includes a face veil, a divergence that sparked minimal scholarly inquiry into the political implications of such fashion choices in Pakistan’s public sphere (Khan et al., 2020). Contrary to conventional assumptions linking religious headscarves to passive conservatism, Mahmood (2004) asserts that women consciously use these symbols to reflect their spiritual devotion. Conversely, donning ‘Western’ attire in public encounters condemnation and even violence (Alam 2020, 2021). Maneka’s choice, dismissed as inconsequential, strategically echoed her husband’s commitment to resurrect an Islamic era, a mere six months after their marriage, catering to the religious right. Analyzing the digital discourse surrounding these representations, I investigate the interplay between national identity and the ‘foreign West’ gender embodiment, and the complex interweaving of liberalism, modernity, and postcolonialism within Pakistan.
Goffman (The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (4th ed.). Penguin, 1959/1990) argues that clothing is a visual signifier of an individual’s social status. In this chapter, I analyse the role of clothing in the visual construction of refugeehood in the British media through a mixed-methods analysis of clothing in 377 images of refugees drawn from the British newspaper media over a period of three years. In doing so, I contribute a critical new dimension to a small but growing literature on the visual representation of refugees. The chapter uses an intersectional analysis with a particular focus on clothing to show that the British media use clothing as indicators of otherness in their representations of refugees. This othering has a gender and racial dimension with Middle Eastern and Black African men and women othered as dangerous and submissive, respectively; meanwhile, White European refugees are represented as belonging.
Anthropological texts dealing with cultures of the Middle East often reflect on the role of women in Muslim societies. One of the main points of discussion when it comes to Muslim women is undoubtedly their public appearance, whereupon these women are most often seen veiled. Indeed, a veil, or hijab, has become one of the primary symbols of a Muslim woman when in public. While the veil can take on different forms, it has also come to symbolise a range of different things. The main objective of this paper is the analysis of the main approaches to the phenomenon of female veiling in Islam. It draws on the concept of bargaining with patriarchy as outlined by Deniz Kandiyoti, while discussing the various positions on hijab as analysed by female anthropologists with a personal connection to the broader Middle Eastern region. The paper traces the origins of female veiling, its symbolism, and its forms in the 21st century. Special attention is paid to the case of Iran, whose legislation requires women to wear the veil in public at all times.
Israel’s war on Gaza following 7 October 2023 has given birth to several political and social changes in European nations. According to the United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur, Israel has used this moment to “distort” international humanitarian law principles “in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.” In the European context, this has led to European Muslims and non-Muslims, including organizations, institutions, as well as individual academics, politicians, and activists mobilizing and voicing their condemnation and demand their governments to do more towards peaceful and equitable solutions. However, this has been met with a strong reaction from European governing bodies. This paper situates this reaction within wider discourses on the European Muslim crisis. It begins with a systematic literature review on the so-called European Muslim crisis, followed by case studies on the United Kingdom and Germany on their respective changes to policies impacting Muslims in the post-October 7 contexa Regarding the literature review, this paper illustrates how this concept has three distinct, yet intersecting meanings: the crisis of European identity; the crisis of foundational ideologies of Europe; and an internal Muslim crisis that often leads to radicalization. Through the British and German case studies, this paper illustrates that October 7 has reinforced and strengthened the shift towards values-based citizenship and integration. This paper argues that through branding pro-Palestine protesters and organizations as extremists in the British context, and adding questions related to antisemitism and Israel in the citizenship tests in the German context, the Israel/Palestine issue has now become yet another yardstick to demarcate the European, civilized “us” vs. the Muslim “other.” In doing so, October 7 has escalated elements already present within the wider discourses of the European Muslim crisis.
This article explores attitudes and practices regarding covering in comparative perspective, focusing on the mask and masking and their promotion in two very different cultural settings that nonetheless also share some broad similarities: Niger, with particular emphasis on the Tuareg case and the mediating roles of smith/artisans in dissemination of cultural knowledge and health education, and the United States, with particular emphasis on as mediators and Texas in these processes. There is analysis of the cultural-symbolic and socio-political re-workings of meanings and uses of masking in relation to these settings’ prevalent, widely-held mores concerning facial covering and their wider significance for understanding theories of danger, pollution, and contagion in anthropology.
Drawing on fieldwork data among Syrian refugee women marrying Egyptian men amid forced migration, I explore how displacement reshapes the meaning and purpose of marriage. Many such unions, often customary or polygamous, provoke comparisons to forced marriage and gender‐based violence. Bypassing the reductive exploitation and static narratives, I ask: How does displacement alter refugee women's perceptions of marriage's purpose? And can marriage serve as a strategic tool for (self)resettlement? This investigation urges us to reevaluate the existing range of resettlement options and criteria, offering fresh perspectives on marital strategies post‐displacement. Rather, similar marriages often stem from both affective and practical considerations, challenging colonial dichotomies (e.g., agent/victim) and reinstating the role of factors such as social capital in the trajectories of the uprooted. This study expands understanding of gendered and Othered refugee experiences, highlighting marriage's transformative role in forced displacement and resettlement. It contributes to ongoing discussions on marriage, displacement, and resettlement, urging a nuanced approach that acknowledges the complexities of refugee agency and adaptation.
Occupied with the discourse of legal reformation of the Muslim community since the Shah Bano controversy in 1978, statist narratives of liberating Muslim women from Muslim patriarchy are conspicuous in India. However, Muslim leaders propose internal reforms and expect women to be good mothers. This article analyses the role of traditional ulema in Kerala in shaping the corporeal notions of pious Mappila women. The study also analyses the contestations and multiple discourses among pious young Mappila women toward the ulema ’s preaching. The findings of this study are framed through the concept of piety and the embodiment of ethical self by Saba Mahmood and Talal Asad’s notion of Islam as a discursive tradition. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, digital ethnography with a sample of thirty respondents and secondary sources are the methods used. While the conception of an ethical self and piety among the pious elder Mappila women hinges on the respectful compliance of ulema ’s preaching of the qualities of a ‘good Muslimah ’, the pious young Mappila women focus on the deliberative aspects of discourses around ‘the good Muslimah ’. This has opened up the possibilities of contestation, argumentation, and cross-checking references from the Islamic tradition to pursue a dignified and pious living.
This study examines the dynamics of a social media campaign launched by Algerian feminists in 2018 in response to a video shared on Facebook that narrated a woman’s upsetting encounter with harassment. This movement occurred in a region often known for its autocratic systems of governance and the prevalence of its Islamic movements rather than for its prominence of feminist advocacy. Yet the Global South and particularly North Africa are actually abundant with women’s rights organizations, a fact often overlooked in both Western scholarship and media. Drawing from social movement theory, this research analyzes how feminists in the Global South strategically presented their narratives on Facebook by employing diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing approaches. The findings illuminate that Algerian feminists primarily used two collective action frames in their messaging: diagnostic to increase awareness and prognostic to suggest long-term solutions. Yet motivational framing to empower supporters and give them a rationale to get involved was less prioritized, creating a critical gap in sustaining the movement and turning online grievances into action.
Schut and Crul (2024) and Keskiner et al. (2024) bring much‐needed attention to migration’s impact on host societies. They investigate Dutch non‐migrant parents’ responses to migration‐related issues that arise in their children’s schooling, highlighting the diversity of those responses. Future analyses should move beyond individual analyses to understand broader social changes, how group‐level status shapes institutional responses to migration, and the role that systemic racism or Islamophobia may play in shaping individual and institutional responses to migration. This requires empirical analyses that incorporate participant observation in specific institutions (for example, schools), and attention to organizational decision‐making.
Since the middle of the 20th century, Arab studies has developed into a significant field of study in America, most specifically the United States. Sometimes, this study is referred to as Middle Eastern Studies in a broader sense. The Lebanese-American Historian, Arabist, and Orientalist Dr. Philip Khuri Hitti is the writer who gave major role in the establishment of Arab studies as a field of systematic academic study in the United States. This research is a humble attempt to examine the efforts of Dr. Hitti in the field of Arab studies in the US, which is essentially divided into three segments. The first portion, as immediately apparent, is the development of Arab studies in the US. The second segment is about his personality and contributions in various ways, and the last one, the most crucial one, is the meticulous attempt to critically analyze most of his available works, with a special emphasis on his magnum opus, History of The Arabs. This study pursues qualitative methodology in secondary-type research through the collection of various sources of available data. In conclusion, this work inculcates that the emergence of Arab studies in the US was driven by its need for economic and political influence over the Middle East, and Dr. Hitti rightfully deserved to be called the architect of Arab studies in the US. Though his works are criticized, his scholarship, views, and dedications are highly commendable.
Abstract:
Since the middle of the 20th century, Arab studies has developed into a significant field of study in America, most specifically the United States. Sometimes, this study is referred to as Middle Eastern Studies in a broader sense. The Lebanese-American Historian, Arabist, and Orientalist Dr. Philip Khuri Hitti is the writer who gave major role in the establishment of Arab studies as a field of systematic academic study in the United States. This research is a humble attempt to examine the efforts of Dr. Hitti in
the field of Arab studies in the US, which is essentially divided into three segments. The first portion, as immediately apparent, is the development of Arab studies in the US. The second segment is about his personality and contributions in various ways, and
the last one, the most crucial one, is the meticulous attempt to critically analyze most of his available works, with a special emphasis on his magnum opus, History of The Arabs.
This study pursues qualitative methodology in secondary-type research through the collection of various sources of available data. In conclusion, this work inculcates that the emergence of Arab studies in the US was driven by its need for economic and political influence over the Middle East, and Dr. Hitti rightfully deserved to be called the architect of Arab studies in the US. Though his works are criticized, his scholarship, views, and dedications are highly commendable.
Despite the increasing inclusion of intersections of sexual, racial, and class differences in contemporary feminist theory, there remains an omission in the scholarship in terms of exploring the intersections of religion (Islam), gender, and sexual violence. This article addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on the #MosqueMeToo movement. Using an intersectional lens, the article provides an overview of this movement from current literature as well as content analysis of a number of Twitter (now X) posts. It examines the potential, strength, and impact of the movement and explores how it provides Muslim women with an accessible way to share their lived experiences. Moreover, the article elucidates the current backlash and self-reflections in response to the movement.
In this chapter, Kristin M. Ferebee reflects on her experience of going to Kabul, where she taught at the American University of Afghanistan during the military intervention there and prior to the Taliban takeover. Packing all her belongings, she aimed to commit to the foreign country. Her experience, however, of expat life, a segregated university compound, and an enforced distance from Afghan everyday life raised the question of how close we can come to host countries. Kristin describes and analyses the walls that are erected: by institutions, through security practices, but sometimes also by an absence of reflexivity.
This study examines the subaltern issues that befall female characters in the novel Perempuan yang Menangis kepada Bulan Hitam (2020) by Dian Purnomo. The subaltern issue is motivated by the captured marriage culture in Sumba, Indonesia, which harms women. In connection with the capture marriage culture, women's bodies become essential to their lives. This research aims to reveal the subaltern position of Sumba women in the novel. The theory used to analyze is Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's Subaltern theory. The method used in this research is a qualitative approach using a close reading method. The results found that the body is used as a resistance tool for Sumba women in voicing their subaltern position. Sumba women do not hesitate to use the body as an entity that can be harmed so that their voices are heard by society. Thus, Sumba women as subalterns continue to look for ways to echo their voices, not least by threatening their own lives. Abstrak Penelitian ini mengkaji isu subaltern yang menimpa tokoh perempuan dalam novel Perempuan yang Menangis kepada Bulan Hitam (2020) karya Dian Purnomo. Isu subaltern dilatarbelakangi oleh budaya kawin tangkap di daerah Sumba, Indonesia, yang merugikan perempuan. Berkaitan dengan budaya kawin tangkap, tubuh perempuan menjadi aspek penting dalam kehidupan mereka. Tujuan penelitian ini mengungkapkan posisi subaltern perempuan Sumba dalam novel. Teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisis adalah teori Subaltern milik Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan kualitatif metode close reading . Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa tubuh digunakan sebagai alat resistansi perempuan Sumba dalam menyuarakan posisi subaltern mereka. Perempuan Sumba tidak segan menggunakan tubuh sebagai entitas yang dapat dilukai agar suara mereka didengar oleh masyarakat. Dengan demikian, perempuan Sumba sebagai subaltern terus mencari cara untuk menggaungkan suara mereka, tidak terkecuali dengan cara yang mengancam nyawa mereka sendiri.
If asked what “arms manufacturer” first brings to mind, few people would likely answer “women’s rights.” And yet, each International Women’s Day (IWD), leading global arms manufacturers present themselves as working to help bring about gender equality. “Gender washing” refers to corporate social responsibility communications aimed at presenting a corporation as empowering to women and girls, even while their own products, supply chains, or employment practices harm them. In this article, we show how arms manufacturers use social media communications about IWD to gender wash their images, positioning themselves as progressive and caring. Bringing into conversation feminist work in Security Studies and International Political Economy, we identify new varieties of gender washing specific to war and martial violence: client military and government partnerships, and constructive silence. We also expand the global hierarchy of publics targeted by gender washing communications, reflecting the fact that unlike other transnational corporations, arms manufacturers are not concerned with garnering “brand loyalty” amongst the general public. Rather, they communicate both to and with Global North governments and militaries. Thus, what is at stake in these representations, we argue, is not simply the reputation of the individual corporations concerned, but a broader process of gender washing war.
This essay argues that Western feminist subjectivity is constructed in opposition to an Other represented as a subjugated non-Western female.
L'A. montre de quelle maniere l'islamisme egyptien critique les vedettes de cinema au nom de la depravation des valeurs morales qu'elles representent. Cet expose permet a l'A. d'ouvrir son discours sur le pouvoir en general de l'islamisme dans la culture egyptienne
Social Text 18.3 (2000) 29-45
Contrary to what the title of this essay may conjure, this essay is not about (un)veiling as a contemporary practice in Islamicate societies -- about which there is now a very lively and enormous literature. It is about how feminism itself may have worked as a veil, about the veiling work of feminism as a boundary marker for secularism of Iranian modernity. My hope in rethinking the history of feminism is to seek out possibilities for the present moment of Iranian politics. I mean to be provocative but not accusatory, seeking to unpack the implications of feminism's imbrication in secularism of modernity. By unfolding the veiling work of Iranian feminism in its past history, I hope to envisage possibilities for "building working alliances" in contemporary Iranian gender politics.
Let me emphasize at the outset my refusal to generalize the ideas of this essay to all Islamicate societies. One of the problems with current discussions of Islam and feminism is ahistorical generalizations. These generalizations screen away vast historical and contemporary differences among countries as diverse as Algeria, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, to name just a few. My argument assumes historical specificity; it assumes that to understand what is going on in Iran today, we need to look at the specific contingent configurations of the politics of modernity in that country. What may or may not be generalizable cannot be known from what is assumed to be Islamic, modern, feminist, or secular by any prior definition of these terms. For instance, the configurations of Islam, feminism, nationalism, and secularism that are now unfolding in Iran have very much to do with the fact that an Islamic republic has been in power for the past twenty-one years, one that came out of a mass popular revolution. As a very hybridized phenomenon, these developments go beyond previously dominant and accepted political paradigms. We have an unshaped and fluid muddle with women as key producers of it! Two concepts, feminism and civil society, move through this complex reconfiguration and acquire new meanings, while crafting a discursive space more marked by opacity than transparency, thereby challenging our previous certainty about what divides Islam from un-Islam, secular from religious. Consider this: The editors of Iran's two most prominent feminist women's periodicals, Zanan [Women] and Huquq-i zanan [Women's rights], had previously been editors of Zan-i ruz [Today's woman], a women's weekly published by the Kayhan Institute. This institute is possibly the most ideologically and viciously rigid Islamist cultural organization in Iran (a self-conscious ideological state apparatus if there ever was one!), and it publishes a large number of dailies, weeklies, and other periodicals marketed to different segments of the population. How can we make sense of this bastion of Islamist hard-liners producing a lineage of feminist editors? What is the meaning of these emergences in the overall political mapping of contemporary Iran?
The legal and social restrictions that women have faced in Iran since the 1979 revolution are widely reported. Seemingly trivial matters, such as the shape and color of a woman's scarf or the thickness of her stockings, have been matters of public policy and disciplinary measures. Women are far from legal equals of men. Despite years of hard work by women activists, inside and outside the Parliament, many discriminatory laws passed within the first few months and years of the Islamic Republic remain on the books and in full force. Many secular feminists continue to feel silenced, if not repressed or exiled, by the dominant cultural and political climate.
Yet the past decade has also witnessed an incredible flourishing of women's intellectual and cultural production. Twenty-one years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, not only have women not disappeared from public life, they have an unmistakably active and growing presence in practically every field of artistic creation, professional achievement, educational and industrial institutions, political participation, and even in sports activities. It would be tempting for a secular feminist, such as myself, to claim that Iranian women have achieved all this despite the Islamic Republic, against the Islamic...
Anthropological Quarterly 75.2 (2002) 339-354
On a cool breezy evening in March 1999, Hollywood celebrities turned out in large numbers to show their support for the Feminist Majority's campaign against the Taliban's brutal treatment of Afghan women. Jay and Mavis Leno hosted the event, and the audience included celebrities like Kathy Bates, Geena Davis, Sidney Potier, and Lily Tomlin. Jay Leno had tears in his eyes as he spoke to an audience that filled the cavernous Directors Guild of American Theater to capacity. It is doubtful that most people in this crowd had heard of the suffering of Afghan women before. But by the time Mellissa Etheridge, Wynonna Judd, and Sarah McLachlan took to the stage, following the Afghan chant meaning "We are with you," tears were streaming down many cheeks.
The person spearheading this campaign was Mavis Leno, Jay Leno's wife, who had been catapulted into political activism upon hearing about the plight of Afghan women living under the brutal regime of the Taliban. This form of Third World solidarity was new for Mavis Leno. Prior to embarking on this project, reports George magazine, "Leno restricted her activism to the Freddy the Pig Club, the not-so radical group devoted to a rare series of out-of-print children's books." She was recruited by her Beverly Hills neighbor to join the Feminist Majority, an organization formed by Eleanor Smeal, a former president of NOW. Little did members of the Feminist Majority know that Leno would make the plight of Afghan women living under the Taliban rule a cause celebre: not only did the Hollywood celebrities join the ranks of what came to be called the "Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan" campaign, but a large number of popular women's magazines (like Glamour, Jane, Teen, etc.), in addition to feminist journals like Sojourner, Off our Backs and Ms., carried articles on the plight of Afghan women living under the Taliban. The Lenos personally gave a contribution of $100,000 to help kick off a public awareness campaign. Mavis Leno testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke to Unocal shareholders to dissuade them from investing in Afghanistan, and met with President Bill Clinton to convince him to change his wavering policy toward the Taliban. In addition, the Feminist Majority carried out a broad letter writing campaign targeted at the White House. The Feminist Majority claims that it was their work that eventually dissuaded Unocal officials to abandon their plans to develop a natural gas pipeline in Afghanistan, and convinced the Hollywood-friendly Bill Clinton to condemn the Taliban regime.
Even skeptics who are normally leery of Western feminists' paternalistic desire to "save Third World women" were sympathetic to the Feminist Majority's campaign. This was in part because the restrictions that the Taliban had imposed on women in Afghanistan seemed atrocious by any standard: They forbade women from all positions of employment, eliminated schools for girls and university education for women in cities, outlawed women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative, and forced women to wear the burqa (a head to toe covering with a mesh opening to see through). Women were reportedly beaten and flogged for violating Taliban edicts. There seemed to be little doubt in the minds of many that the United States, with its impressive political and economic leverage in the region, could help alleviate this sad state of affairs. As one friend put it, "Finally our government can do something good for women's rights out there, rather than working for corporate profits." Rallying against the Taliban to protest their policies against Afghan women provided a point of unity for groups from a range of political perspectives: from conservatives to liberals and radicals, from Republicans to Democrats, and from Hollywood glitterati to grass roots activists. By the time the war started, feminists like Smeal could be found cozily chatting with the generals about their shared enthusiasm for Operation Enduring Freedom and the possibility of women pilots commandeering F-16s.
Among the key factors that facilitated this remarkable consensus, there are two in particular that we wish to explore here: the studied...
In Java the growing trend among women toward wearing Islamic clothing (“veiling”) challenges local traditions as well as Western models of modernity. Analysis of Javanese women's narratives of “conversion” to veiling against the background of the contemporary Islamic movement reveals that veiling represents both a new historical consciousness and a process of subjective transformation that is tied to larger processes of social change in Indonesia. In producing themselves as modern Muslims, veiled women simultaneously produce a vision of a society that distances itself from the past as it embarks upon a new modernity. [Islam, modernity, social transformation, veiling, women, Indonesia]
PIP
This article lays the groundwork for a feminist and anthropological political response to female genital "operations" that transcends the current debate over the phenomenon, which is couched in terms of cultural relativism or of politically-informed outrage. After an introduction, the study considers the politics involved in assigning a name to the procedure and explains the author's reason for choosing female genital "operation" over the more commonly used "circumcision," "mutilation," or "torture." In the next section, clitoridectomy is contextualized through a recounting of the circumstances under which the procedure was performed in the western Kenyan village of Kikhome in 1988. This discussion focuses on the ceremonies surrounding the circumcisions of young men and women, the author's attempts to discover how the young women involved really felt about the tradition, and a review of the anthropological literature on the significance and impact of these practices. The analysis then examines the international controversy surrounding female genital mutilation and provides an overview of the colonial discourse on female genital mutilation in Africa to expose 1) the origins of justifications for colonial dominance in the dominance of non-Western women by non-Western men and 2) the fact that use of cultural arguments that fuse women and tradition can support culturally-defined power relationships. The article concludes with a consideration of who is qualified to speak out against female genital mutilation given the fact that all women and all debates are the products of longstanding, tenacious power relationships.
Colonialism and Modernity: Feminist Re-Presentations of Women in Non-Western Societies. Inscriptions 3-4:79-93. 1990 State Versus Islam; Malay Families, Women's Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia
- Ong
- Aihwa
Ong, Aihwa 1988 Colonialism and Modernity: Feminist Re-Presentations of Women in Non-Western Societies. Inscriptions 3-4:79-93. 1990 State Versus Islam; Malay Families, Women's Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia. American Ethnologist 17(2):258-276.
Our Moslem Sisters: A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness Interpreted by Those Who Heard It New York: Fleming H, Re veil Co
- U S Government
U.S. Government 1907 Our Moslem Sisters: A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness Interpreted by Those Who Heard It. New York: Fleming H, Re veil Co, 2002 Electronic document, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/re-leases/2001/11/20011117, Accessed January 10, Walley, Christine 1997 Searching for "Voices": Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations. Cultural Anthro-pology 12(3):405-438.
Seclusion and Modern Occupations for WomenOn Language Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty 1988 Can the Subaltern Speak? In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture
- Papanek
- Hanna
Papanek, Hanna 1982 Purdah in Pakistan: Seclusion and Modern Occupations for Women. In Separate Worlds. Hanna Papanek and Gail Minault, eds. Pp. 190-216. Columbus, MO: South Asia Books, Safire, William 2001 "On Language." New York Times Magazine, October 28; 22, Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty 1988 Can the Subaltern Speak? In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, eds. Pp. 271-313. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Feminism in an Islamic Republic
- Najmabadi
- Afsaneh
Najmabadi, Afsaneh. 1998 Feminism in an Islamic Republic. In Islam, Gender and So-cial Change. Yvonne Haddad and John Esposito, eds. Pp. 59-84.