Week 4

In 'Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,' Mohanty brings to light an aspect of Orientalism that we haven't yet explored, and that is the relationship between western women and their perceived Other (the Oriental or Eastern woman). Usually, when we think about the misrepresentation of women in the Middle East, we pin the blame on men. But it is true that feminists have been just as much culprits in the representation of 'the third world woman' as "ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious, domesticated, family-oriented, victimized, etc." (65). It is important to note that "women" are not inherently similar in their struggles, and that ignoring "historical specificity" to a group of women is not conducive to understanding that group (68). This is especially applicable to the Middle East, a region singularly categorized by Western scholarship and political discourse (as noted by Abu-Lughod's discussion of Laura Bush). How can scholars even attempt to lump a diverse and complicated region such as the Middle East into one category? Yes, there are common threads among the nations and peoples of the region, but, as Mohanty notes, it is ludicrous and simply unhelpful to assume "a singular patriarchal kinship system common to all Arab and Muslim societies, i.e. over twenty different countries" (70). 

The deeper we explore Orientalism in our readings, the more apparent the role of discourse in public policy and opinion becomes. Mohanty differentiates between "a discursive self-representation" and "material reality." What is gathered from discourse and what is real and present have become very disjointed. This relates to the Wa'dud "What's in a Name?" reading. Words are more powerful than people sometimes wish to believe, and they have truly shaped relations between the "western world" and its "other." It is important to erase the concept of "otherness" in our increasingly interconnected world. My favorite quote from this week's readings sums this concept up beautifully. From "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?":

"The reason respect for differences should not be confused with cultural relativism is that is does not preclude asking how we, living in this privileged and powerful part of the world, might examine our own responsibilities for the situations in which others in distant places have found themselves. We do not stand outside the world, looking out over this sea of poor benighted people, living under the shadow--or veil--of oppressive cultures; we are part of that world."(789)