ALINE ANDREOLLA FEIJO

IMAGINING ARAB WOMANHOOD

Chapter four in Imagining Arab Womanhood has as its main topic the analysis of the representation of Arab and Muslim women in the era of globalization, where the author mainly investigates the principal in terms of their “disavowal of the neocolonial and imperialist projects in which they are embedded” (139). Throughout the chapter she charts the ways in which particular narratives of globalization have continued to universalize tendencies of the modern representations of the Arab womanhood. As her first topic, she uses the case study of the Afghan Girl – which is the story of finding the woman McCurry had photographed for National Geographic seventeen years earlier. In the article of the Search of the Afghan Girl, the magazine presented a narrative that reinforced the dominant US notions about the passivity and victimization of all Muslim women – it created a strong focus and an image of women as helpless victims and reinforced the dominant trope of saving Muslim women through the US military action. This image became so eye opening for thousands of people that the search brought a great media and worldwide attention. This picture helped expand the mythology of the veil, and the US association of the veil with barbaric, backward regimes, that the US tried for years to fight against.  It helped expand through the United States the “white man’s burden” to civilize purportedly natives through the process of colonialism.

Later on, the author brings attention to the American view of the veil, and what it presents in the English-speaking context. She looks at the English term veil and points out the meaning the word carries: “to conceal from apprehension, knowledge, or perception. The meaning of the word itself helps explain why such sandal was created by seeing all these women being so victimized by covering themselves up, and how the picture cited earlier would rise into such a big argument worldwide on women’s rights, such as NOW’s cause of liberating Afghan women from the brutal oppression.

This creation of self-awareness of the victimization of women later on brings out the impact it had in art and social movements. As one of the most interesting parts the author brings out is Wilke’s statues. She decided to use gum as the material of her sculptures because she believed it would be the perfect metaphor for the American women – “ chew her up, get what you want out of her, throw her out and pop a new piece”. Wilke clearly advances a feminist argument by stating the notion that women are objects, and not just in the Middle East, but all throughout the globe.

The image of the veil, and how it victimizes women in the Middle East also plays a big role on how the United States hopes it people will portrait the lands they have been in war with. It is important to point out the significance of oil in those territories and how it sparked a war. The United States wants its citizens to agree with the government and its decision making, so creating an idea of how those countries victimize their female population is a way to get the American people to stand against them as well because of the creation of social issues and unfairness, rather than just showing a more economical problem. Just like the United States has negatively portrait the UK and France before, they are now doing the same with the Arabic and Muslim world. In other words, the United States quest for oil plays an enormous role on the people’s portrait on the women behind the veil. Thus, the notion the American government creates in whichever country it has any interested on, will play a big role on how the society will view such country. The United States this time is creating now the image that it is fighting a “war on terror”, a war in a world that portrays women as inferior. This imagery of the veil leads thousands of people to turn against a culture and make their assumption on so called, unjustified treatment that views women as objects, while, according the some statements in the chapter, the US is doing it for its own economical benefit and oil dominance.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VEIL

The article The Other Side of the Veil deals with France’s views on the wearing of veil’s at school. Killian initially talks about the “headscarf affair”, when three teenage north African girls wore headscarf’s to school, and after being asked by authorities to take it off, and not doing so, they were expelled from the school.

It is important to point out what the author initially indicates about the history behind veils, and how women in many cultures wear them because the veil is a “vehicle for distinguishing between women and men and a means of controlling male sexual desire.

Also, there is the matter of the belief in France that the church should be separate from the state, which indicates why it would be view as a problem to be so open about religion at a school setting since the state is trying to avoid such relationship. Although there is an understanding of a large immigrant population in France, the French still want them to fit in, not such get along, thus, following the French belief that religious practices should not be involved in governmental, or school matters. It is interesting to point out that according to a poll in 1989 in Le Monde, 75% of French were opposed to wearing veils at school, but only 32% were against it when wearing it in the street. Showing that the problem really is when it comes to a matter of an educational environment that is controlled by the government, rather than individual choices of the outside world and the streets.

The author then later on deals with her exploring of different women’s views on the wearing of veils both at school and in public through personal interviews and research.  The interviews pointed out an idea that the problem isn’t necessarily with religion, but with the veil itself. Some of the women interviewed mentioned that there was no prejudice against wearing a cross, but there was against a veil. Others pointed out the open celebration of holidays like Easter, and how that wasn’t seen as a problem while the veil was. Thus, the two main topics of the argument are either the loss of identity and freedom of speech with the lack of wearing the veil, vs. the belief that the purpose of school is integration and adaptation to the French culture, rather than just being familiarized with it.