Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?

Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others

Lila Abu-Lughod

I think many Americans are unsure, curious, and misinformed about Muslim culture because it is so different from Western culture. We equate many of their practices with “bad” and “constraining” without taking the time to individually find out for ourselves what its actually like to live in that culture. I still feel like I have a lot to learn on this subject. During my Intro to Religion class last year, we read a book about the history and practices of Islam. What many people don’t understand is that some Islamic practices are not written in the Qur’an, but rather developed over time and were taken from other traditions and adopted into Islamic practice. For example, Abu-Lughod explains how the burqa was not invented by the Taliban and it was not a law of the Qur’an. Women of a certain ethnic group wore burqas to show their modesty, and other groups of women adopted the traditions as well. I think the problem that most people have with the burqa is that they see it as forced seclusion and oppression of women. However, as something that has been part of their culture for centuries, I don’t think that Muslim women would prefer to suddenly dress like western women, and certainly wouldn’t feel “free” doing so. I agree that all women should be free to have the same opportunities to leave the home and do what they want. But wearing a burqa is not the biggest obstacle in these womens way right now. Afghan women are not allowed to obtain education, receive proper food and nutrition or medical care like men. These are the larger issues that should be addressed and taken more seriously at this point in time.

Whose Security?

Charlotte Bunch

It may seem insensitive, but I appreciated it when Bunch wrote “in many places, people have long lived with terrorism, violence and death on a scale as great or greater than 9/11,” and although it was a shocking, tragic event, Americans became obsessed with it and assumed that it was a defining moment for everyone. I agree with her that Americans became obsessed with 9/11, even when I was 11 at the time of the attack. I think the main reason I saw this differently was that I was living in Switzerland at the time so I had a different perspective on the attack than most Americans. Yes, 3000 deaths is very tragic, but think about all the other attacks, natural disasters, and wars that have killed so many more than that. We can only be so lucky to have one day of terrorist attack compared to wars that last for years. As for it being a defining moment, I’m sure it changed many peoples’ lives, it definintely impacted our country as a whole, but I didn’t really notice any immediate, personally life-altering changes as a result.

Bunch also discusses the idea of national security as a “security less as defending territory and more in terms of protecting people.” I’m always taken aback when I watch the news coverage of places like Lybia where I see so many innocent civilians who have to deal with such violence. It seems like militaries just view civilian deaths as negligible losses that are “accidents they can’t avoid.”