å Monday, May 1st, 2017

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. When we talk about Muslim women, the first thing came up on our mind might be: They wear the veil or the burqa. This may consider a sign for Muslim women. It is common popular knowledge that the ultimate sign of the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban and the terrorists is that they were forced to wear the burqa. The burqa covered from their heads to toes, the cover may symbolized the restrict behaviors, they didn’t get the equally rights and respect compare with men or other women.

The save of Muslim women also included to help Muslim women to take off the burqa. For them, burqa was such as a sign of the oppression they got under the Taliban and the terrorists. So, take off the bueqa for some Muslim women may represent the fully liberated for Taliban.

But wear the burqa may not just consider the sign of oppression, for some Muslim people, it may also consider a way to for them to represent the culture and religion.

In her essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and its Others, “ Lila Abu-Lughod argues that discourses on humanitarianism and human rights in the 21st century rely in some way on constructions of Muslim women. The”Veil” Abu-Lughod speaks of in her essay is the burqa muslim women are forced to wear and the connotations attributed to it. Abu-Lughod states that. It is common popular knowledge that the ultimate sign of the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban and the terrorists is that they were forced to wear the
burqa. She also states how Liberals sometimes confess their surprise that even though Afghanistan has been liberated from the Taliban, women do not seem to be throwing off their burqas. Not only liberals are guilty of this thinking but the general populace as well. When one that does not understand the meaning behind wearing the burqa views a woman wearing one it is typically assumed it is due to the woman being forced to wear it. While most keep silent about their displeasure or confusion about women wearing burqas some can be a bit extreme. Many accounts of women wearing burqas being called terrorists and people ripping the burqas off of women’s heads have occurred in recent times. For these women to truly be saved they need to be given equal rights and respect. As long as the wearing of burqas is attributed to a forced woman with no rights they will never gain the respect they deserve. Some muslim men even support the idea that this way of dress means these women dont deserve respect and that these women are truly not equal to others. This way of thinking and the ones that support this way of thinking need to stop for muslim women to truly be free.

In her essay“Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lila Abu-Lughod argues that the feminist movement from Western countries trying to save Muslim women from cultural oppression , orthodox religious views and the violence of the Taliban, are imposing a Westernized view of the world in the lives of Muslim women. Feminists see themselves in a superior standpoint in which they can decide what would be a positive change in the lives of Afghan women.  But by changing their cultural way of dressing and taking away the veils from their hair will not change the life situation for many women that need social justice, the end of war, peace, economic resources, education, safe environments to raise their children, social recognition, health care, and universal human rights.

Abu-Lughod states the issues that affect Afghan women are not only those that the Taliban imposed upon them, but we should take a look to the large picture and recognize that the social issues were present before the war on terror. The violence and destruction we see on T.V. and discussed in interviews is rooted in political issues, conflicts to access territory, extraction of oil and natural resources. In order to change the lives of Afghan women and disadvantaged people in the world,  there should be a re distribution  of wealth and the work of  organizations and that want to bring rights and justice for people.

Also, Abu-Lughod informs that we must identify what are the interests of the groups and organizations involved in the search for a better world. If  feminists and  human rights advocates want to bring justice and emancipation for women and people that are suffering the aftermath of the terrorist attacts of September 11th, they should do it by discussing the history of interventions of the U.S. in Afghanistan, the relationship of the Taliban with the U.S and how neo-colonialism influences religious groups to react against foreign powers that want to dominate their lives and take their resources.

Lila Abu-Lughod is the author of Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving. In her essay, Lila discusses the Western world’s obsession with viewing Muslim women as people that need to be saved based on their cultural practices. One practice that many westerners believe “restricts” the basic human rights of Muslim women is the veil, also known as the burqa (Abu-Lughod, 2002). I believe that Abu-Lughod feels that a major problem with the Western world is that they fail to acknowledge the differences in cultures. The burqa is a big part of the Muslim culture as it pertains to women. What many westerners see as oppression for these women is not oppression to them. Many Muslim women wear the burqa to show what group they are a part of, distance themselves from men they choose not to reveal themselves too, and as a way to maintain a relationship with their god (Abu-Lughod, 2002). Lila tries to reinforce that just because women in the western world do not wear a burqa does not mean that women who do wear it in other parts of the world are being oppressed (Abu-Lughod, 2002).

I deeply enjoyed Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving because Lila really brings awareness to the different motivations behind various campaigns. First, by claiming that Muslim women need saving because they wear a burqa is insinuating that the western way in which women do not wear burqas is the right practice. This insinuation in a way condemns the practice of wearing burqas as not being “normal” and that it is an agent used to oppress women. Second, she states that the world has a tendency of using women as victims like Muslim women as a way to persuade the public into agreeing to things like war (Abu-Lughod, 2002). I believe that as it pertains to the burqa, Muslim women do not need saving. The burqa is a part of their culture and it is a part of their identity. Just because they choose to cover themselves for various reasons does not mean that their freedom is restricted. I also believe that the world, in particular the western world needs to embrace the differences of cultures and stop trying to impose their beliefs on others similar to what they are trying to do to the Muslim women and their burqa.

Abu-Lughod, L. (2002). Do Muslim Really Need Saving? Anthropological
(Abu-Lughod, 2002)Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. Harvard University Press.

In her essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lila Abu-Lughod points out that have been many arguments about to rescue oppressed Muslim women for their culture and religion. Even now in the 21st century discourses on humanitarianism and human rights establish the image of an Afghan woman who needs to be rescued. Muslims women have been exposed as victims of the veil (or burqa), violent abuse, forced to marry, and deprived of their rights. Also, the burqa is commonly seen as a sign of their oppression and we seem surprise when many women continue wearing their burqas after been “liberated”. Lughod also explains that the burqa is a form of “cover” that represents the separation of men’s and women’s spheres. According to the anthropologist Hanna Papanek many women saw the veil as a liberating invention because it allows them to move out of segregated spaces and still being protected of unrelated men. Lughod makes a point of equally when she explains that poverty and political instability affect not only the attendance of girls to school, but also of boys.

I think that the “vocation of saving others” is because we have a different culture and a different lifestyle than the Muslim women’s. We expect a better world for all women. We have a different point of view about how should be the world, how women should dress or what role should they play in society. That is why we see Muslim women as victims. Lughod explains that we focus more in see other’s problems and we forget our own situation and ignore our own oppressions. Trying to “save others” is just a distraction to forget that our own policies and actions are responsible for making the conditions in which others live at a distance. A better option is to ask ourselves what can we do to create better condition for better place for everyone to live.

I think Lughod’s critique on constructions of veiled women is that even though they achieved freedom from independence of the terrorist group they don’t take off their veiling. That is because of the way that their society is portrayed along with the cultural status and religion which may be different compared to how the others (west vs east) view it. I think the constructions of the veiled for women was meant to protect women allowing them to go outside. Lughod’s mentions how the veiling allows the women to do so while hiding/fulfilling something that feels right in their society, but compared to other society they look at it differently. Also by wearing these veiling it seems that the women has more freedom than if they don’t wear it because Lughod’s article mentions how women were able to go outside when they wear the veiling, whereas before when they didn’t it was impossible to do so. Maybe this is just the norm for society as the women who wears the veiling also means being a good respectable women.

The “vocations of saving others” is a the voice and opinion of people that think the muslim are being restricted when in reality they aren’t. The media portrays this differently and only goes after stories that will make them money, but they won’t show the unimportant things. For example when France had a terror attack the news were immediately covering that, but when another place that was also attacked by the terrorist there was no media coverage on it. This is because that other place was not as powerful as France and less important to the news. I think the “vocations of saving others” is just another way for the media to try to get people to show the Middle East which has a different culture, religion, lifestyle, practice, etc… compared to the place the media is comes/belongs to. In reality we don’t really know what the women in the Middle East wants like whether or not they want to wear the veiling or what happens if they don’t have to. The habit that their society has are completely different from ours and you can’t really change someones habit so that might have something to do with it.

In “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lila Abu-Lughod introduces constructions that Muslim women were going through. She argues about contemporary discourses on equality and freedom. War on terrorism brought dangers of reifying cultures. By such thoughts, serious appreciations among differences in cultures were disregarded. Abu-Lughod brings the issue of Muslim women, who were also often called as “women of cover,” and discomfort and plight those women were suffering. History of colonialism brought global injustice, and created limits of “cultural relativism.” Instead of analyzing the situations by political explanations, people focused on cultural framing of regions. Colonial feminism created signs of oppression, such as veils that women were forced to wear. Abu-Lughod cites words of Laura Bush, who said that the fight against terrorism could also be a fight for dignity of women. This form of veil called burqa, was originally derived from a region in Afghanistan. It was a convention for symbolizing women’s modesty, and separation of men and women’s spheres. However, feminists describe burqa as a portable seclusion. It became a symbol of oppression among Muslim women that now it means good respectable women for the family. Therefore, Abu-Lughod argues that we should develop awareness and concerns the Muslim women are facing. There should be no superiority over cultural “others.” She relates this idea to the title of the article, “Does Muslim Women Really Need Saving.” It is problematic to put them as someone in need of saving. Such ideas were results of superiority by people from other cultures. The concept of feminism campaigns could be shown in different forms according to regions. As Abu-Lughod states, political and economic views should not affect one’s cultural difference. Accepting the possibility of difference and respectfulness to other cultures would be the starting point for reform of thoughts and be helpful for those suffering from structural violence.