í Assignments

Lila Abu-Lughod’s essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?”, she talks about the discussion on human rights and humanitarianism in the 21st century and how it is somehow based on the constructing of Muslim women. The author further criticizes the constructions of veiled women and the mission of saving others. Lila Abu-Lughod explicitly questions the intentions and discussions portrayed by the media, by asking a Muslim about their culture, their religious beliefs, and treatment of women to explain such a historical tragedy like 9/11. But they should have been looking at the role the United States played in this, and the history of repression in such areas and regimes. The media outlets would focus on religious and cultural explanations, instead of the ones that would answer their questions, the political and historical explanations. Such answers and issues indeed can lead to an artificial divide in the world, like us versus Muslims, when we should be reaching for global interconnections. The part that bugged Lila Abu-Lughod the most was the role Muslim women, and Afghan women, in particular, played in these explanations. Many have said that the “War on Terrorism” is almost like an intervention to help save the women under the Taliban regime, using the symbol of females as a justification for declaring war. But historically, such tries and efforts ended in results that were not anticipated at all, results that were the opposite of what they were going for (784). The author pays attention to the Afghan women that the “War on Terrorism” apparently saved. It was believed that these women wore their burqas because they were forced to by the Taliban, and it confused many when these women still continued to wear their veils after being saved. Media and other figures should be able to understand that the Taliban were not the ones to create the veils, the burqas, and hijabs.  For women in the Muslim and Southwest Asia regime, their covering is a sign of their modesty and respect (785). The veil does not symbolize a woman’s unfreedom, in contrast to contemporary beliefs. Lila Abu-Lughod suggests to her readers that instead of focusing on a woman’s veil, we should instead put our attention on important issues regarding feminists and others (786).

In the essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Abu-Lughod challenges the common stigmas attached to Muslim women. She says that despite being a cultural relativist society, westerns have been more gravitated to being ethnocentric. Westerners have this superiority complex according to Lughood. She furthers her explanation saying, for us to think that Muslim women need saving, it implies that they are victims of oppression and we must intervene to “save” them. The burqa worn by females is often viewed, by us, to be a symbol a oppression. Lughood says we ignorantly see the burqa and believe that the woman wearing it is being deprived of her human rights. Women that are seen wearing a burqa are misjudged and viewed as victims rather than humans for wearing a representation of their culture. We are reducing their culture by the standards of our own, and Lughood says this is injust of us. The burqa is a choice, not a symbol for oppression. Lughood claims that those from the west and middle east have clashing definitions of feminism. She emphasizes that westerns are pushing their ideas of what it means to be a feminist upon them and this also is wrongful of us. We continue to oppose our own beliefs, because we think they are the only accurate ones. We are consumed with the idea that we must save Muslim women of their oppression, before even realizing they might not want our saving. Lughood says we have to be more educated in their history to understand their culture today. In the end, the only oppressing thing really is the westerns misconception to believe that Muslim women are oppressed. The misrepresentation, in the western society, of their culture is  what is conflicting them. It is difficult for them to identify themselves if we are constantly pushing our perceptions upon them.

White Christian nuns are accepted as practicing their freedom of religion when they wear conserative clothing and head scarves, but when a Muslim women does the same, she is considered to be dangerous or to be under the control of something oppressive. According to Lila Abu-Lughod, there was an invasive questioning of all Muslim women after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Many white Americans were questioning the beliefs and intents of women of Muslim faith. As Abu-Lughod pointed out, this would be considered unacceptable if the question was posed to a Christian or Jewish woman. Referring back to the title, these White Americans believe that Muslim women are under an oppressive grip. They believe that they have no choices or freedom in their faith, and that Muslim women who wear burqas and hijabs are being controlled by men, when in reality, it is the women’s choice. White Americans have continuously blamed Muslims for the September 11th attacks, and to this day that blaming has not stopped. Women who shame Muslim women for practicing their faith and wearing hijabs and burqas do not truly understand what the religion of Islam represents; these women are not being oppressed or controlled by anyone, they are practicing their religious freedom just like Christian or Jewish women. Relating back to the title of the article, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?”, these white women feel as if they need to liberate Muslim women from their own religion, when in fact, they are already free to decide to practice whatever faith they wish. White Americans refuse to understand the true teachings of the religion of Islam, because of racist ideologies. They believe that their religion is superior because they are supposedly more free, when in fact women in both Christian and Islam religions have the ability to decide how they wish to express their religious freedom.

In Lila-Abu Lughod’s essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?”, Lughod discusses this idea that Muslim women need to be ‘saved’. Without truly understanding the culture of Afghanistan women, individuals simply target them with biased, stereotypical characteristics. A focus on their standpoints in society, whether it may be political, social, or economic, are not necessarily supported but are judged by many, making it a relevant topic for discussion. Lughod argues the misconception of these women and the fact that the government is to blame, as they are denied of their citizenship rights. The work aims to discuss the issues of Muslim women, such as being forced to wear a veil, or the burqa, which covers the whole body and face. The burqa became views as a ‘liberating invention’, as the women who wore them were given the ability to leave segregated living conditions. The wearing of the burqa, however, carries with it this idea of sanctity and respectability. In the eyes of others, especially in Western thought, the idea of veiling is seen as a ‘lack of agency’ in women. However, it is just the opposite, as veiling is a voluntary act. Women can choose if they wish to wear it and they can also choose who they wish to wear it in front of.

Two points that Lughod highlights in this piece is that, first of all, it is important to stop categorizing veiling as an example of a woman’s “unfreedom”. Each individual is raised in a different social and historical background that shapes their values and understanding of the world around them. Secondly, it is imperative to not limit a Muslim woman’s ability, attitude, or situation down to a single article of clothing. It is important to steer away from this Western ideal on what is deemed as wrong or right. Instead, we must focus on serious issues and actual feminist concerns that go deeper than the simple concept of veiling.

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.

From the essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lila Abu-Lughod consists about the a moral of kindness, benevolence, and sympathy extended to all human beings and the human right in the 21^st century, and she focused on the stereotype that people have on Muslim women. Lila Abu-Lughod wrote about whether Muslim women need saving or not. The reason why she wrote about this essay is because she wants other people who are idiotic or have no knowledge about confusing condition that presents in the burka. Lila Abu-Lughod pointed out the problems from the facts that some ignorant Americans think the meaning of the veiling, which is the covering of the face, is that women lost their right to speak at the society. American people think Afghan women still under the strong oppression because they didn’t rip off the burqas in the country of liberation, and they believe themselves as that they need to understand and acknowledge how oppressed they are. Against this belief, Lila Abu-Lughod state that liberation in this country give rights for them to cover themselves with burka or not, but most of the Afghan women determined to wear burqas. Burqas contains various meanings such as individualistic, societal, cultural and mostly the religious one. Lila Abu-Lughod think people in United States have an stubborn ideas on the veiling and she added that there are many other pressing issues to take care with worry about themselves with Muslim women.

Since American people think they are on the superior condition than the other, it drives them a desire to save people, and it looks like condescending. People think learning about other countries cultures is troublesome and try not to learn about them, and people are trying to westernize people, which is the action of removing their own agency and ignoring their culture.

In her piece “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others”, Lila Abu-Lughod poses the issue of using the state of Muslim women in the Middle East in order to justify America’s war on terror. Abu-Lughod questions the ethics of the war on terrorism, claiming that the actions of the U.S. military, which often leads to shocking and appalling results, cannot be reasonably justified by the plight of women in nations where the US military is active. In order to support her claim, Abu-Lughod looks to Anthropology rather than politics, and offers a theory on how American sentiment and misunderstanding shapes our view on how to approach our relationship with muslim majority states. She posits that American’s, particularly the American Government, views toward Islamic culture are largely parochial and narrow. Abu-Lughod says that the supposed “oppression” of muslim women is not a mandatory coercion to live a certain way but rather a willing method for women to express their own culture, an ancient and proud culture with deep roots in history.

The author compares the American Government’s facade to “save” muslim women harkens to an earlier period in history, the Colonial Era, in which international powers pillaged and oppressed many different populations around the world under the guise of helping them with “education and civilization”. Abu-Lughod offers an alternative for the U.S. Government, saying that rather than focus on trying to “save” muslim women, they should not only recognize that cultures develop with widely different histories and social dynamics, since their actions are in essence an imposition of their own culture. On top of this, The Government should focus its resources toward actual humanitarian crises on the planet, like the prevalence of starvation or the massive wealth gap between western and eastern nations, or even the accommodation of millions of displaced refugees from war-torn countries.

In Lila Abu- Lughod’s essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?”, she talks about how muslim women are seen as needing to be saved by the western culture and how what they see as feminism or being saved is different from what we think they need. One point she makes is how we see the burqas as something that muslim women are forced to wear by Islam and it is somehow constricting them of what they are allowed to do and wear. However, she points out that the burqas is something many muslim women choose to wear and it can separate what they consider their private or public lives. The burqa is also representative of their culture and religion, which also shows what part of society muslim women belong to and relate themselves to. She makes a further point where she says that seeing the burqa as old fashioned or oppressive instead of seeing it as a important representation of who the muslim women are and what they choose to be, is putting ourselves, the western people, above them in society when truly this sort of hierarchy shouldn’t exist. The sole act of thinking muslim women need saving is making us seem like we think we don’t need saving and that something about their society, culture, or religion is wrong. We shouldn’t be enforcing our western ideas of what is ideal on them. As for the “vocation of saving others”, she says that it shouldn’t be seen as saving them. Instead, it should be seen as bettering people around the world in general, men or women, and being aware that there are many different cultures. While trying to “save” these women we should be able to see what is truly good for women from their point of view and not solely a western point of view.

Amelia Cabezas details sexual citizenship as the status of Caribbean women struggling with the controversial field of sex tourism and its scrutiny under Caribbean governments. Cabezas uses the cuban government as a primary example of how governments intervened to “purify” their respective cultures in order to better their images, by labeling women who’s occupations lay outside the heteronormative standards of their society as dangerous criminals that ought to be subjected to rehabilitation. This allowed the government to incarcerate women for crimes against social morality, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation as well as corruption and unfair treatment to the institutionalized – even though prostitution is entirely legal in such areas. This puts the civil rights of the sexual citizen into jeopardy, all the while reinforcing the governments authority under the guise of aiding these women to become better citizens and people in general. The “promise” of saving women from allegedly heinous relations with tourists is met with conflict from women who under impoverished conditions are forced to sell their services to support their children and lifestyles. With no other method of survival, the promise of bettering oneself according to heteronormative structures leaves these women empty handed and at risk of being taken advantage of by men in higher positions, such as corrupt police officers that Cabezas accounts of having raped and robbed women arrested for being with tourists. Thus, the political inclination of the cuban government puts many women in unfavorable positions, listing them as sexual deviants for taking actions that would be applauded for had they been done by a man. Sexual citizenry serves only to profile and deprecate women that do not comply with the social norm that is heterosexual male dominance, all for the economic interest and benefit that mass tourism brings to places like the Caribbean.

Lila Abu-Lughod focuses on the veiled women of Afghanistan and argues on the United States’ negative “vocations of saving others.” This essay comes after the U.S. war in Afghanistan and criticizes how Westerners analyze Muslim women. One aspect that Lila Abu-Lughod says many criticize are the head-dresses, especially the burqa, that many Muslim women wear. Abu-Lughod argues that many of us see these garments of clothing as a sign of submission when it may in fact be a way of empowerment and uprising. Besides being a symbol of class status, head-dresses allow women to leave the house in a just manner without any harassment from men. The burqa, and other forms of head-dresses, have a deeper meaning tied to their culture. Muslim women voluntarily choose to wear these garments because it represents strong ties to their families as well as possessing respectable morals.
Lila Abu-Lughod urges us to be wary of our “vocations of saving others.” She argues that we are used to imposing our opinions and what we consider to be politically correct onto other nations. Therefore, we fail to make a connection with other cultures with a different history than ours. Instead of always fighting for a specific gender or race, when we deal with other nations, we must consider culture as a very important factor as well. Lila Abu-Lughod’s solution to this issue is to be more culturally aware. Instead of using military forces to solve problems, we should come up with ways to make the world a more just place for all. We can go about this by holding debates and conferences between all groups of people and learn from one another. To make this successful, Westerners need to be accepting of differences because other nations might have different definitions of what is just or unjust.