í Assignments

In her article “Do muslim women really need saving?” Lila Abu-lughod explores the ethics of the war on terrorism and argues that humanitarian and human rights structures Muslim women. The U.S concentrates on cultural and religious beliefs of Afghan women wearing veils which is a sign of oppression. But they have been freed from Taliban but still chooses to wear the veil. They do not seem to be taking it off. The veil symbolizes separation of men’s and women’s spheres. These women aren’t not being forced to wear these veils. So what do they really need saving from? They can choose not to wear them but hey do instead. They wear these veils knowing what they mean and stand for. Since they are making the choice to wear them then they must accept everything that come along with wearing them. I understand that most of these women wear these because of religious reasons but I feel that they should let something like a veil define their religion.

The author Lila Abu-Lughod, in her essay “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others”, she brings the reader to ponder upon how one’s own culture has an impact of misinterpretation that could mislead the judgement of perception of understanding another style of living from another origin of the world. That the western lifestyle should not be a fixated form of solution, especially advertised as a form of salvation to those who have their own personal beliefs and activities based on the personal own culture.

The fact of the matter is that countries that offer the militaristic armament do not necessarily provoke a change to coincide to the feelings of those who are rescued. That it should not be of any kind of astonishment to the “rescuers” to live under their own cultural relativism that of which identifies them of the ownership of their past history and customs, whether religiously or by traditions.

For instance, one of the misconceptions of misinterpreting the veil is that for certain ethnic groups, depending on the region, its veil represents a level of respectability and at the same time portrays women in conducting themselves as humble of the simple life (Abu-Lughod 785). I think that it is clear before anything, the history of foreign cultures, that of which are in part unknown fully to us, have a major role of how “superpower” countries want or think that their culture is the right way of living life, and that one must desert the old customs of which were implanted from the beginning. Leaving to think, back to the question that resonates during the last class session of whether there should be emancipation of religion for the greater cause of political reform? Needless to say, it is definitely not something that women who have usage of the veil will leave from one day to the other.

Interestingly enough, the veil for the western eyes or culture would seem to be viewed as a base for oppression as supposed to when those who have lived under the veil identify to it as what the author calls it a “mobile home”. By viewing the other point of view of the carrier that must place the veil, we can consider that by she may feel safe, privatized under the veil and not letting men, to some degree, pass beyond the veil in any shape or form because it is hers to own. Perhaps it is something that she may feel honored in doing, or just, it is part of her identity to the culture of which she lives in. Not far from it, the author relates of how our manners, dress codes, and other attributes of culture diversity can encounter to disagree, often causing tension that displays each distinctive cultural habit. If such misinterpretations of language and manner on the table can happen, one can only come to the conclusion that for nations, it is the same when they meet.

In the essay “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” by Lila Abu-Lughod she mentions that one of her principal points is to make us as reader aware of all the differences in the world. When she talks about differences she is telling us about religion, cultures, and behavior.  Lila Abu-Lughod makes as to learn how in different cultures women have to follow rules or traditions in order to be considered “good women”.  Lila Abu-Lughod mentions how Laura Bush in one of her speeches mentioned that American help Afghan women get their liberation. She stated “Because of our recent military gains in much of Afghanistan, women are no longer imprisoned in their homes. They can listen to music and teach their daughters without fear of punishment”(Pg. 784).
The essay also talks about how Afghan women under the Taliban were forced to wear a burqa as a sign of oppression. The burqa was also seen as a demonstration of deep faith to the Islam maybe this is the reason why even now they still wear a burqa even though they don’t need to do it. But as the essay mentions some women still do this as a sign modesty or respectability. If they do not use the burqa doesn’t mean they have freedom. On the contrary, they are still prisoners of a government or a society that believes to be superior, to dictate how they should dress. At least wearing the burqa makes them feel part of their community.
When she talks about women wearing a veil she mentions how some people confuse this type of clothing as a unfreedom, on the contrary women wearing this veils, are free to decide for whom they feel it is appropriate to wear a veil. As the essay mentions wearing a veil or a burqa is a choice that women can make or decide to, sometimes they do it because of the commitment to honor their family or religion.
The Islam has presented itself as a religion that oppresses women. One of the justifications for US intervention. In Afghanistan was to defend the rights of Muslim women, who were oppressed by the Islamic faith. This intention to “save” Muslim women had nothing to do with human rights or defend women to be better treated. As Lila Abu- Lughod mentions in the last part of their essay we a society should focus in treat Afghan women as a human being and not look in their ways of dressing or follow traditions “ Our task is to critically explore what we might do to help create the world in which those poor Afghan women, can have safety and decent lives”(pg 790).

Lila Abu-Lughod is discussing how the ideas of human rights and humanitarian efforts are in essence being forced on women of other cultures particularly those from Muslim countries. She is explaining how there is no real respect or understanding of differences among cultures and histories  and that Muslim women are not realized as individual persons with different notions of freedom and justice.

Abu-Lughod is trying to understand why the US is focused so much on  cultural and religious beliefs of certain cultures but particularly the religious and cultural beliefs of Afghan women and using the Burqa or veil as a symbol of oppression as well as a tool to justify military interventions by the US in certain regions of the world. She argues that the western views of human rights does not address the injustices faced by women in Muslim countries( education, poverty and health concerns) including the affects of war but instead are a site of cultural generalization where region, community membership and class are not taken into consideration. Wearing a veil, burqa or hijab signifies community membership modesty and respectability.  She makes an interesting point regarding the Jewish community and how women wear wigs which is a  part of their “religious belief and community standards of propriety require the covering of the hair” (Abu-Lughod, 2002, p. 785).  The wearing of burqas also signifies the difference between the public and the private realm in Muslim countries. These distinctions are a part of their culture and are a  mark of modesty. Overall I think the veils have more to do with identity and inclusion in one’s own community as opposed to oppression or lack of agency.

The call to saving others has very little to do with human rights or justice or safety for the women in Muslim countries it has more to do with the US and other powerful countries imposing its values,  beliefs and morals on other nations. The western view of liberation does not necessarily align with the views of women in Muslim countries, “they may want different things than we would want for them” (Abu-Lughod, 2002, p. 787). Again the vocations of saving others implies that the “other” ,Muslim women, need to be rescued. But it is really the West trying to gain control of many Arab countries based on “oil interests, the arms industry, and the international drug trade” (Abu-Lughod, 2002, p. 789).

Muslim countries have long resisted attempts by the west to impose their ideas of how to live and dress starting with the 19th century Christian missionaries. The west wants to impose its way of life on these countries especially its religious beliefs. Culture is closely tied to religion in Muslim countries and they hold on  to the practices and rituals that are a central part of their culture and way of life.

The use of negative associations between terrorists , the Taliban and the injustices women face in South Asia by the west  work to divide nations and cultures by implying that Afghanistan is an uncivilized country and the women are “victims” of the Taliban. But at the same time the west omits its role in the injustices that impact the lives of women from Muslim countries.

Women in Muslim countries are not forced to wear veils or burqas they wear what is considered appropriate based on where in the region they live, their status (professional, poor or working class, marital status, etc) and to  community standards.

References

Abu-Lughod, L. (2002, September). Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 783-790.

In her essay “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” Abu-Lughod uses various past and present examples of colonialism to explain how there’s an “Western obsession” with Muslim women. Laura Bush’s address to the public following the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 prompted Abu-Lughod to pose the question: why was there a consistent resort to knowing the cultural meaning, specifically the women and Islam, or knowing the meaning a religious ritual in order to understand the attacks on the World Trade Center? In her essay she uses an example from the French colonization of Algeria where there was a demonstration gathering held where the French women would ceremoniously unveil the women of Algeria in front of a crowd. The was done to show that Algeria was in agreement with the French. Abu-Lughod’s point is, why is the unveiling of Muslim women an hot topic for the West? The Taliban does force women to wear the burqa in Afghanistan but the issues for women in that region are deeper than the veil. She emphasizes that the Taliban did not invent the burqa and it is not a symbol for women’s oppression. I like that Abu-Lughod explained the veil by calling it a “mobile home” (2002:785). The veil symbolizes the separations of men’s and women’s spheres and associated women with family and home, not where strangers lie. Each form of veiling symbolizes participating in a different community and moral life in which family and home is held to the highest standard.

Abu-Lughod tells us to forego all “veils and vocations of saving others” (2002:789) and urges us to have a more productive approach to humanitarian efforts. Instead of focusing on the minuscule details of the lives of Muslim women, specifically the forced wearing of the burqa, to focus on the bigger picture at hand: creating a more just place for the entire world. Muslim women suffer from malnutrition, poverty and lack of opportunity to gain an education, but this is not solely a “third world” problem. These sorts of oppressive conditions can be found in most areas of he world. We should focus more on our input to the conditions of the world and our attitudes towards them. Abu-Lughod stresses that when you claim you are saving someone you are implying that you are saving them from something while simultaneously saving them to something, so we should respect each others differences when including oneself in humanitarian efforts.

Maria Libreros

Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Bullock

Woman Human Rights

Assignment # 9

A “Rights-defined identity” By: Sally Engle Merry

In the article Rights Talk and Experience of Law: Implementing Women’s Human Rights to protection from violence, Sally Engle Merry talks about Women’s Rights as Women’s Human Rights, and how these rights are being violated while they are victims of violence and domestic violence. Sally also explain how the system and society contributed to the violation of their rights because of culture, religion,community or social beliefs that makes appear women guilty when they reacted accusing their aggressors or abusive husbands. However, it depends on the individual experience with the law about their rights.

Sally’s main point is to be conscious about women victimization, women are being tired of being abused and maltreated by their husbands. They decided to report them to the police and present charges against their aggressor and relied on the criminal system. However, most of these women are likely eather to drop up the case avoiding to present charges on court against their husbands, because they are scare of man  coming back to hurt them again. Others, they simple abandon the case because of cultural and societal prejudice that accused them been against their husbands and to be a bad wives that can destroy a man’s ego, humiliation and the predominant feeling that everyone in court including judge  are against them. Another group of women think that they are                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            responsible for their husband’s bad temper. Therefore, they deserved to be beaten by a man.

Nowadays, women are against domestic violence, and the system is very helpful in many  cases the victims have services such as shelter, restriction orders that protect them and their children from their prosecutor to be near them. There are psychological assistance individual or family that can help relationships deal with the emotional or mental trauma caused by the situation.

Sally’s recommends to look for help and found support even though, some of the stories she presented are scary while others are very supportive by women and by the authorities as well. Most of them provided group support to the victims during the legal court process that can lead to label a husband as a domestic violent aggressor and her as a victim. There are also cultural differences that justify violence, behavior  and humiliation to female gender, in these cases human rights depends on the individual experience within the social context.

Lila Abu-Lughod makes it clear in her abstract that reification of culture, or wanting to make cultural and religious practices by Muslim women especially practical and concrete, is problematic in the sense that it’s an objectification. In other words, over-analyzing and incorporating politics ultimately strips cultural complex practices of its value and significance and places judgement on it, as if it is a tangible thing, relating it to rights and liberty, and whether their practices are interfering or almost victimizing these women and their socially and politically aligned entitlements.

One quote that stuck out to me during Abu-Lughod’s mention of her interviews in the U.S, with acknowledgement of constructions of Islam in relation to broadcasted politics, is “as if knowing something about women and Islam or the meaning of a religious ritual would help one understand the tragic attack on New York’s World Trade Center and the U.S. Pentagon, or how Afghanistan had come to be ruled by the Taliban, or what interests might have fueled US,” (p. 785). This quote is truly significant when attempting to unravel Abu-Lughod’s critique on constructions of Muslim women and “vocations of saving others” due to the evidence of these interview questions specifically indicating assumptions of a potential internal crisis within Islam that may be a result of tragic attacks or terrorist acts.

Contributing to more shocking news, in Laura Bush’s speech, bombings in Afghanistan, supported by neat cultural icons: “rejoiced” Afghan/Muslim women speakers, were portrayed as assistant in liberating women from their households, which simultaneously served as supposed imprisonment under the Taliban reign, and allowing them to have simple pleasures, like listening to music. Without shedding clarity on “separate causes in Afghanistan of women’s continuing malnutrition, poverty, and ill health,” (p. 784) within the speech, the Taliban, or “terrorist” control was emphasized in a greater negative perception in association with Islam and Muslim women who need saving.

Another misconception of the Taliban and terrorist reign and women’s oppression is that women were forced to wear veils, or hijabs. Due to their religion, ethnic groups, and due to the local form of covering that went on before and after the Taliban were present, it is clear that their apparel was a result of their own free choice and is a result of complex socio-cultural practices of modesty, not necessarily oppression. “If we think that U.S. women live in a world of choice regarding clothing, all we need to do is remind ourselves of the expression, “the tyranny of fashion,’” (p. 786). Clothing can be a result of hegemonic practices, dictated by constant reminder of ideologies of beauty and trends, and the U.S, then, should recognize their own cultural practices in relation to socially shared standards and moral ideologies, similar to Muslim women in other areas outside of the U.S.

Too often people, even feminists, fail to separate their desire for equality, freedom, entitlements, etc from ethical ideologies that associate with Western ideals. The want and need for general safety and sufficient living conditions for humans worldwide should outweigh the focus on historical location, Muslim women, religious labels and cultural practices.

Due Sunday, April 30th, by midnight. Word count: 400 words. Please make sure everything is in your own words. If you paraphrase, make sure to include the proper citation.

In her essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lila Abu-Lughod argues that discourses on humanitarianism and human rights in the 21st century rely in some way on constructions of Muslim women. Drawing on details from the text, describe in your own words Lughod’s critique of constructions of veiled women and “vocations of saving others” (2002:789).

In this article, “Rights Talk and the experience of Law: Implementing Women’s Human Rights to Protection from Violence” the author Sally Engle Merry interviews women that have been the victims of crimes, such as domestic violence.  The activism for these women has time and time needed the legal system and it’s “justice component” to aid in the support of “the battered women’s movement.” These women have experienced the legal system for themselves and have created their own ” subjectivities” based on these experiences.

It is a harsh reality to think that many women are still the victims of domestic violence. It is not easy for women to come forward and prosecute the abuser. In this article. women share how challenging it was to come forward and prosecute their abusers but also how challenging it can be to prosecute them through our legal system. Sally Engle Merry says “I argue that the adoption of the rights-defined identity under identity-shifting circumstances such as battering depends on the individual’s experience with the law.” Women in general are often victimized. Those women, who have suffered domestic violence will always been seen as victim however depending on our justice and legal system this women may be able to move on and not just been seen or feel like the victim of domestic violence. The experience of this abuse does not have to define and or shape a woman if her abuser is prosecuted and she is treated with respect during the process.

Sally Engle Merry expresses the importance of how going through a “healthy” legal process is just as crucial to a women’s identity as coming forward and prosecuting her abuser. When going through this process each step a women has to take can either negatively or positively affect her “identity shifting”. For example, if a women makes a domestic violence call to the police and the Police Officer on duty tells the abuser “to take a walk.” this can negatively effect that women and her identity by making her feel as though her voice and even her rights as a human being mean nothing, because she has called and asked for help and/or justice and in return she was not meant with that but instead she was dismissed. On the other hand, if that same woman was to make a domestic violence call to the police and the police came and arrested her abuser she would feel as though her voice and rights do matter. This would have a positive effect on her identity-shifting’.

Sally Merry examines the relationship between woman rights, that being woman who have suffered from violence, and the legal system. Merry interviews woman who have experienced domestic violence and who have reached out to the legal system for help and protection against their abusers. Merry suggests that if a woman is suffering from abuse and is rejected by the local officials for help then she is more likely to feel she has no rights and is not worthy of rights- perhaps she many feel she isn’t equal to her abuser. Not only does the legal system opinions matter and affect her thought process, but the society in which she lives in, the people she surrounds herself with can way heavy on her decisions to seek justice. “Thus, an individual’s willingness to take on rights depends on her experience trying to assert them” (347). If people who support her and push her to fight for her rights surround her then she will identify as a person with human rights, equal rights.

Ironically a woman has to fit the descriptions as a “good victim” to receive recognition and protection from the legal system. If a woman fights back or provokes her abusers then she isn’t a “good victim”, they are viewed as troublesome and this can affect their cases. Some of the woman interviewed who had suffered terrible abuse from their spouses didn’t want to punish them, they wanted to make them realize that they were wrong. If a woman just wants recognition of the wrongdoing and then is willing to still be with her abuser is she truly finding her identity and human rights? As stated, “I didn’t want to punish him, just set him straight”(364). If a woman seeks help from the law and then returns to the abuser after, how is the law suppose to maintain protection for her? There are so many factors that go into the rights of woman, social norms in the town of Hilo played heavily on these domestic violence cases. For many years men played a masculine leader role in which he was to keep his wife in check, and if she wasn’t obeying him, then he would use violence to ensure she was doing her part in the household. However there have been many changes to the law because of feminist movements that are advocating for their rights. “A more complex set of penalties for batterers has developed both within and outside the law. Of particular importance is the development of new forms of governance that focus on self-management and a redefinition of masculinity” (379).