Short Post 4/21

All of today’s readings were extremely informative and brought to the forefront something I did not know too much about. I grew up in a predominately white, affluent, Jewish town so I did not know much about Muslims at all. 9/11 was my first introduction to Muslims, obviously in a negative light. Arwa Ibrahim discusses this hostility a large number of Americans have towards Muslims and the discrimination American Muslims are subjected to. Two stories stuck out sharply in my mind from her essay. The first was how she interviewed young males in Iraq and described how they felt unsafe to go to school due to the U.S. troops/Iraqi government shooting at schools in retaliation to the Taliban. This story was so frightening and ultimately shocked me. I would like to think that all of the U.S. troops in Iraq are carrying out their military duties of fighting terrorism as opposed to hurting civilians. I guess that thought is a little naive. The other story she told of her family being detained in JFK for five hours was nonetheless embarrassing for all Americans. I cannot imagine ever feeling like a prisoner in my own country and being treated as a potential terrorist.

Lila Abu-Lughod’s essay, Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others, argues why Western views of the controversial burqa are not all true. Western culture sees the burqa as confining and oppressive of women. I know I cannot even begin to imagine wearing something that was constantly covering my face. I think this is why so many Westerners fear for these women because they themselves are terrified by the idea of wearing a veil. However, Lila Abu-Lughod points how many criticizers of the burqa simply do not understand the culture behind the burqa. It was really interesting to learn how most people believe the burqa was imposed by the Taliban when they took over Afghanistan. However, Abu-Lughod says how she believes many of the women emigrated from Afghanistan as things started to shake up and the women who were less-educated and poor were the ones who could not escape due to the expensive costs. This proves how the Taliban did not initiate the wearing of a burqa. Furthermore, she says, “If liberated from the enforced wearing of burqas, most of these women would choose some other sort of modest headcovering” (786). In order to fight women’s oppression in the Middle East, we need not focus on the burqa, but put our energy towards education and making women equals to their men. A lot of traditions seem incomprehensible to other cultures but that is why we need to educate ourselves instead of passing judgment on something we do not fully understand.