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assignment 11

In her article, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others”, Lila Abu-Lughod explores the different interpretations in which western civilizations have often misconstrued the Muslim women by. Western views have numerously portrayed Muslim women as oppressed due to their political agenda in regions such as the middle east and Afghanistan. Lila even quotes important female figures such as Laura Bush Cherie Blair to show how they’ve contributed to the misunderstanding of Muslim women by associating terrorism with their oppression. Lila also makes a very good point when she questions how the Taliban, an organization originally funded by the CIA to fight Soviet Union forces, has suddenly become a face of terrorism in the region. I think this point leads us on to her next one when she begins to talk about the real oppressive factors such as poverty, education, and malnutrition that hurt the people the most, yet are still overlooked by the west. moreover, Lila points to how the west construct and see problems within Muslim cultures that are not of significance. For example, many westerns often misconstrue the hijab and burqa as a symbol of oppression rather than a cultural tradition that women accept and allow in their lives. Even after being “liberated” many women still choose to wear the burqa as a representation of their modesty. Reflecting on my own experiences here in the US, I find this point to be very true. People in the US often see other cultures as “wrong” or “oppressive” due to the misinterpretation and lack of knowledge that they possess when it comes to other Cultures or religions. From this problem stems other problems and wrong views that people hold regarding muslim women “needing help” as Abu-Lughod describes in her article. In the end of her piece, Lila describes Laura Bush’s remarks about American troops “saving” and “liberating” afghan women as ineffective because it is just like trying to fix a “problem” that we don’t even understand. Instead, Abu-Lughod proposes that we should make the world a better place by showing coalition and alliance with people who face unjust living conditions instead of salvation.