Anthropology: Arab Women in the Middle East and Diaspora
Introduction
The world comprises of a rich mixture of people from different cultural backgrounds. The comparative study of the different human societies, their cultures, and their development process over time is the general scope of this paper, under the broad topic, anthropology. The paper narrows down to the anthropology of Arab women in the Middle East and Diaspora. Further, three concepts have been chosen for discussion in this essay in regard to the Arab women. The concepts are gender, ethnography, and feminism.
Gender
Gender is defined as the social and cultural characteristics that distinguish men and women (“Gender”, 2016). The roles that men and women play vary from one society
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The concept of feminism is correlated to the issue of gender balance. As advocated for in the gender concept, the female gender needs empowerment in order to compete fairly with the male gender. The social structure has numerous opportunities that women can exploit. The only way to turn the concept of feminism into reality is by empowering women and giving them the platform to exercise their potential.
Gender, Ethnography, and Feminism
The three concepts are related and are closely observed in any given society. When ethnographers set out to study the culture of a society, the focus is only how men and women handle different affairs. Therefore, ethnography covers the gender concept. In cases where the role of women and their position in the socio-cultural and political structure is reviewed, the concept of feminism comes in.
Gender, Ethnography, and Feminism in the Ethnography of Arab Women in the Middle East and
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In her book, Writing Women’s Worlds, Abu-Lughod challenges public misconception against women of the Muslim Middle East. Further, the ethnographer seeks to prove the Western feminists wrong in their assumption that defining patriarchy is a simple matter (Abu-Lughod, 1999). In summary, her study gathers evidence that there is an existing misconception towards work by women, in particular, feminist ethnographies.
Women of the Middle East are often sidelined in matters politics. The sentiment is borrowed from the book: Women and Power in the Middle East, written by ethnographers Joseph and Slyomovics. The ethnographers note that there is apparent gender domination of women by men in the Middle East and North Africa. Not only do women get controlled by men, but also by their respective families, communities, and the state. However, the rise of capitalism has reduced the intensity of control over women (Joseph & Slyomovics,
White man’s burden was a common phrase used to justify European imperialism in the 19th and early 20th century. It was a period of time where westerners had the desire to “save” those who lacked the same freedoms in which the westerners perceived to be necessary to a functioning society.. It was a period where the Middle East was taken advantage of, and the middle easterns had to deal with it, whether they liked it or not. But, the underlying question of the modern era is still up to debate: Is White Man’s Burden on Muslim Women unwelcomed in the Middle East?
(Gordon 58). The house chores that would usually be saved for the women of society was shunned by Arab women in a response to their sheltered status shoved on them by Islam. Before Islam, women were writers, historians, nurses, and warriors. But with Islam their rights were stripped away and they were placed in harems-the women quarters of the Islamic household (Gordon 58). The harem usually consisted of up to four wives, concubines, slave girls entertainers, and domestic slaves (Lewis 74 and Segal 38).
On the other hand, patriarchal norms and ideals that aimed to regulate women's behavior and bodies affected the Islam of men. Leila Ahmed's book offers a distinctive viewpoint on Islam and the ways in which gender and identity converge with religious practice overall. Ahmed illustrates the diversity of Islamic ideas and behaviors and refutes the idea that Islam is a single, homogeneous religion by contrasting Islam among women and men. The truthfulness of any interpretation of Islam is ultimately arbitrary and reliant on personal experiences and perceptions. We may,
Women have few rights and things available to them in the country. If there is a conflict between a man and a woman, the woman is who receives the blame even if it wasn’t their fault since they are seen as inferior. On top of that some are born illegitimate like Mariam and face even more hardships for things then again out of their control. Through the actions of men such as Rasheed or Jalil this important meaning is expressed. This is to spread awareness to the reader that while it seems obvious that men and women should have equal rights, some countries don’t believe in the idea.
Gender ideologies are used to “rationalize the social hierarchy and inequities in the freedom of individuals to make choices about their lives and to influence others. Nowhere is this clearer than in Bedouin gender ideology… the network of values associated with autonomy is generally associated with masculinity” (118). Men are often affiliated with 'autonomy ' and women with 'dependency '. This notion depicts the social hierarchy assimilated within society of the Bedouins. Customarily, within the confines of economic and social systems incorporated into the society, women are seen as dependents, being conclusively reliant upon the male senior provider within their direct nuclear family.
The Impact of Culture and Gender Roles Heather Richardson-Barker Drexel University Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender, as well as the influence of family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role. The term Gender, as defined by the United Nations, includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male. It further defines acceptable
In “A Thousand Splendid Suns," Hosseini highlights the strict gender roles and unequal values placed on women in Afghanistan that lead to inequality between women and men. This essay explains multiple ways to explore this theme in the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and the real world. This theme of strict gender roles and unequal values placed on women is seen in many ways in the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns” This theme is seen in real-life Afghanistan as well, but not just in Afghanistan; we see this everywhere in the world.
According to Eastern Kentucky University on women and gender studies, “feminism is the issue of equality based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories and political activism”. Feminism
There is no specific start or beginning of each of these waves, but historically has been a gradual process of moving from one wave to the other. The emphasis of the first wave during the late 19th to early 20th century was to include the voice of the woman in ethnographic research. During this time most ethnographic research was conducted by male researchers, of male subjects, for the male audience (Pine 1996: 253). Very little information was captured of the female study subject in different cultures and any information that did exist was transmitted through male researchers. The emphasis was not only on the women subject, but also on the women who were working in academia who wanted to have their voices heard in research work.
Shadelle Goodson Annotated Bib Date Plumber, Hannah Gender in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Gender Roles in Classic Maya Society (2011): Print The author, who is a part of the Maya research team, used iconography to assist with their study of past gender roles in Mesoamerica.
For many, feminist movement is about giving women liberty, equal opportunity and control over their own destiny. C. ISLAMIC FEMINISM In many Muslim countries, the “f” word (feminism) has sparked tensions, conjuring images of domineering, family-hating woman; similar to other labels such as “Muslim” conjuring images of subjugated woman in the mind of the West. Although these stereotypes are true in a specific historical context, these may not be so when compared to a larger reality. Thus, this does not justify the hostility that follows.
Whilst only 8% of Iraq women in the same age group had been. This shows that different groups of women face different issues, by putting all women into one category the women who need assistance could be neglected. The themes relate back to the views mentioned in chapter one by Petley (2011) Muslim women are often about in the media, however, cultural sensibilities are often ignored which result in a misunderstanding of minority
Introduction The Color Purple is a novel written by an American author Alice Walker and was published in 1982. It won numerous awards in literature and film as it had many musical, film and radio adaptations, particularly the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It primarily involves the subject of feminism and addresses issues in sexism and racism in the early 20th century in the United States. The story is all about a girl named Celie, a black woman who lives in the Southern part of US.
Fatima Mernissi’s works include: Dreams of trespass: Tales of a harem Girlhood, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, and the well-known as well as her first Monograph, Beyond the Veil, which was published in 1975. It has become popular book in fields such as sociology and anthropology of the women in the Arab World. Summary The Monograph THE VEIL AND THE MALE ELITE tackled various issues and subjects in the Islamic religion, which were mostly based on the role of the women as well as their rights in it. Initially in the preface of the Monograph the Mernissi compares the Islamic society with Judeo-Christian societies in order to unravel the reason as to why
Cultural history, such as the role of the environmental history of an individual is more of a case in history. The movie “Wadjda” directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, and the article “Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road revolt” by Pascal Menoret explores how various in the Middle east has challenged current discourses between social, cultural, and legal aspects have shaped history. The movie “Wadjda” expressed how Haifaa Al Mansour indicated how modernity was a catalyst for activity to formulate interpretations that allowed for the challenges for the modern world for women in a culture dominated by religion. Women as seen as not victims in society, but rather exposed gender norms and roles striving to live with the constraints on