Do Muslim Women Need Saving?
In this extension of her important 2002 article in American Anthropologist, Lila Abu-Lughod examines the problematic nature of the western discourse surrounding Muslim women. In particular, she is interested in how western political programs in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan use the status of...
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
International Institute of Islamic Thought
2015
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| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/821bd7f16ee1427d8de04123f0100591 |
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| Sumario: | In this extension of her important 2002 article in American Anthropologist,
Lila Abu-Lughod examines the problematic nature of the western discourse
surrounding Muslim women. In particular, she is interested in how western
political programs in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan use the status of
girls and women to validate their claims to occupy, colonize, or otherwise
meddle in Muslim countries’ internal affairs. Abu-Lughod shows how the
human rights discourse surrounding grim situations (often aggravated or
caused by western interventions and other maneuverings) relies on a kind of
one-downtrodden-Muslim-female-fits-all scenario. This book analyzes the
“idea of the Muslim woman,” a character often in need of western liberation,
and argues that the lives of Muslims are more complicated and nuanced than
the popular media would have us believe.
Abu-Lughod begins her Introduction by reflecting on her fieldwork as an
anthropologist in Egypt, an experience that taught her a great deal about the
lives of Muslim women and has influenced her view that there is a “disjuncture
between my experiences and these public attitudes” (p. 4). In other words, what
the West thinks about Muslim women – their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and
experiences – is radically different than what Muslim women actually experience.
These fantasies, much like the fantasies about Muslim men as irrational
and hopelessly violent, “rationalize American and European international adventures
across the Middle East and South Asia” (p. 7). Muslim women are
represented as lacking agency, a result in part of the alignment of sexual freedoms
with personal liberation, about which Wendy Brown has written. Abu-
Lughod sets off on her project to deconstruct and analyze the intersection
among feminism, human rights language, and politics with the hope that the
actual complicated, diverse, and multifaceted lives of Muslim women can contribute
to a critical reflection on the growing movement for women’s rights.
In chapter 1, the author sets her sights on Afghanistan, a state well known
for its violence and poverty, not to mention the mass suffering of the general
population. As she skillfully points out, the plight of Afghan girls and women
serves a foundational role in arguments for American intervention. While the
Taliban certainly deserve the demonization they have received in the press,
so do the numerous other factions that target women as well as religious minorities
and ethnic groups like the Hazara. As she reminds us, some of these
groups are in “the U.S. backed government” (p. 29) ...
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