Book Description
America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Movies is a lively introduction to issues of diversity as represented within the American cinema. The first synthetic and historical text of its kind, America on Film provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, socio-cultural, and aesthetic factors that contribute to cinematic representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The volume chronicles the cinematic history of various cultural groups, examines forces and institutions of bias, and stimulates discussion about the relationship between film and American national culture.Accessible and user-friendly, America on Film features 101 illustrations, a glossary of key terms, questions for discussion, and lists for further reading and further viewing. The book is organized within a broad historical framework, with specific theoretical concepts - including film genre, auteurism, cultural studies, Orientalism, the "male gaze, " feminism, and queer theory - integrated throughout. Each individual chapter features a concise overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, and an in-depth analysis of a single film, including The Lion King, The Jazz Singer, Smoke Signals, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Celluloid Closet.
Book Description
This book features full-length essays by feminists and multi-cultural people. It also addresses the international connections between race, gender, sex, AIDS, the environment, and cultural images.
Book Description
Are the "culture wars" over? When did they begin? What is their relationship to gender struggle and the dynamics of class? In her first full treatment of postcolonial studies, a field that she helped define, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the world's foremost literary theorists, poses these questions from within the postcolonial enclave.
"We cannot merely continue to act out the part of Caliban," Spivak writes; and her book is an attempt to understand and describe a more responsible role for the postcolonial critic. A Critique of Postcolonial Reason tracks the figure of the "native informant" through various cultural practices--philosophy, history, literature--to suggest that it emerges as the metropolitan hybrid. The book addresses feminists, philosophers, critics, and interventionist intellectuals, as they unite and divide. It ranges from Kant's analytic of the sublime to child labor in Bangladesh. Throughout, the notion of a Third World interloper as the pure victim of a colonialist oppressor emerges as sharply suspect: the mud we sling at certain seemingly overbearing ancestors such as Marx and Kant may be the very ground we stand on.
A major critical work, Spivak's book redefines and repositions the postcolonial critic, leading her through transnational cultural studies into considerations of globality.
Customer Reviews:
The irony.......2007-06-26
I must admit, I did not read the entire book. But it is not because I didn't try.
Spivak is a close associate of Judith Butler, and this text demonstrates the connect -- no person lacking a very specific culural and feminist education can read it.
This is the irony of such texts. Spivak cleary seeks to empower women and individuals of color oppressed by Western hegemony -- ttself a jargon phrase-- yet no one she seeks to liberate could remotely understand her text. Nor could many scholars like myself, who seek to learn from her infinite wisdom.
At some point, I would hope that scholars like Spivak would take a page from the Lawrence Grossbergs of the world and begin to write in more accessible language
To do so is not anti-intelectual -- it is indeed an attempt to ADVANCE scholarship.
A question?.......2006-08-26
how now? a book written about the marginal, the "strung-out", decentered, in a stile one needs a very very expensive education to comprehend? on what side of the pasture are you on?
isnt the appropriation of time one of the nastiest things the elect have done to us? how much time does one have, can have, if one isn't "allowed" to sit in her classes, to have her hand on one's papers, when one has to work, to commute to work, to spend eight hours or more there six days a week?
how does a radical expect the inert to energize when the centrifuge of "modern academia" has separated all the key components of "interaction"?
i want answers.
A landmark..........2006-04-10
As you can already tell by the comments, there is a "clash of cultures" in the academy. It's between:
* People who think philosophy's job is to expand ideas and challenge, versus those who think it should make the present seem more comfortable and make you nod your head in recognition.
* Those who think that gender is relatively unimportant and that work stands for itself; versus those who believe that "to introduce the question of woman changes everything".
* Those who believe that the canon of Western philosophy is adequate to describe the world, and those who believe it has never described the world because it never took the time to understand those that never lived in "the west"
* Those who believe the work of the intellectual should be to outline a philosophy of life to be taken up by others, versus those who believe that it is sometimes "more productive to sabotage what is inexorably to hand than to outline a novel concept that will never seriously be tested".
You get the idea. If you are in the first category of these tensions then there's no point you reading this book. It will confirm all your prejudices.
If the second half of the statements above sounds more like you, then you probably already know this book. But in case you "haven't quite got to it yet", as I hadn't for a while, I can say that this is a book that will reward many detailed readings. It's breadth and depth is breathtaking in an era where the very real problems of generalisation raised by gender/race/colonial analysis have caused many to back away from theorising world systems. As Spivak carefully shows, these systems ("the financialsiation of the globe" - who among the critics could elaborate with such detail on the distinctive impact of informational capital on the rural?) are very much in operation and urgently need to be thought - but never at the expense of forgetting those whose labour is appropriated by those systems. For all the dense theoretical language in the text, Spivak is obviously in a discussion with, for example, the indigenous activist, unlike many of her critics, who complain about her language yet never demonstrate their engagement with e.g. the rural poor.
Let's talk about the language. Yes, it's intimidating. It's philosophy! She's a professional philosopher, that's her job! If you're going to understand the insights of a physicist you'd have to prepare yourself by doing a lot of reading (and experimenting). If you were going to understand a physicist who was pushing the boundaries of the discipline you are probably going to have to be a physicist yourself or be very, very, very interested in the field. As it should be - if I understood what physicists were really doing I'd be worried, given that they study for so long and get all that research money for labs when maybe I could do this in my garage. Despite 15 years of reading social theory (not all the time - I'm not an academic at the moment) I struggled heavily through the first chapter of this book on Kant and Hegel (I know some Hegel, only a little Kant). I'd read two pages and think "I'm not sure I get that, but I'll read it again tomorrow and move on to the next bit anyway." If you're a feminist philosopher I'm sure you'd be going much easier. But the point is, I didn't take it as a reason not to read it - it was a challenge for me to expand my understanding about stuff I thought I knew (e.g., Marx), that she has obviously thought a lot more about than me.
When it got to some things I do know something about (e.g. colonial rhetoric, technology and development), her insights were both revelatory and in accord with my experience at the same time. Anyone with a philosophical bent who has experience in the development field will be troubled by the very convincing case Spivak makes in chapter 4 for development as an instantiation of imperialism. As someone who reads the relevant journals from time to time I have yet to hear anyone with expertise in philosophy and cultural studies outline why Spivak doesn't know what she is talking about, as the Terry Eagleton fan suggets. She does all too well, in a way that intimidates those who made a living pretending they had the answers.
Spivak obviously knows that she's good and the suffer-no-fools tone - some have described it as elitist - might be irritiating for some. I prefer to see it as a persistent frustration with the limitations of language, and an attempt to convey that to the reader. This is not "bad writing". It is very carefully crafted (there are some fantastic, pithy sentences at times) to destabilise the assumptions she knows readers are going to make about the work. If you want to read someone who'll make it all easy, try Andrew Ross (one of my favourite authors, but completely different methodology as befits an American Studies prof).
If you've never read Spivak and aren't completely at home in philosophy and theory, this might not be the place to start. Maybe begin with Landry & Maclean's Spivak Reader and any of her interviews (there's a great one from the journal Signs which is available online). Outside in the Teaching Machinemight be easier after that. But if you are looking for big, challenging ideas that will shift your world-view, this will do it.
As you can tell, I love this book. I think it's a landmark work from someone who is trying to think the world with knowledge and experience of places that previously well-known "world thinkers" never had. It attempts to bring an incredible range of examples and texts into productive conversation. It kind of depresses me because I know I could never write it, yet even by reading it I am no longer as comfortable in subconscious generalisations that Euro-US culture relies on, and that this distances me from some ideas and people. But it has also sharpened my sense of what is important, of where I can make a difference, of what writing can do inside and outside of the academy. It's a great gift if you're prepared to receive it.
This book demands & rewards patience & receptivity to others.......2005-06-08
The indignant and arrogant demands for ease of understanding expressed by so many reviewers here exemplify the passive, anti-intellectual customer service-based epistemology that Spivak educates us against and that drives todays globalizing and enslaving culture. Her book is profound and urgent.
music from under the floorboards.......2002-01-27
Spivak works in the interstices to tease out what has been left out in ideas, in cultures, in histories, in language.
Many people apparently are maddened by her methods because there is no easy "method" to be extracted from her work. Her style is an antithesis to traditional "methods". The only real tool a theorist or critic has is intelligence and that quality is not easily described and perhaps not directly transmittable, especially when the kind of intelligence in question has no precedent and must thus inscribe itself into the language for the first time.
Book Description
This first book-length study of gender relations in the Lower Yangzi region during the High Qing era (c. 1683-1839) challenges enduring late-nineteenth-century perspectives that emphasized the oppression and subjugation of Chinese women. Placing women at the center of the High Qing era shows how gender relations shaped the economic, political, social, and cultural changes of the age, and gives us a sense of what women felt and believed, and what they actually did, during this period.
Most analyses of gender in High Qing times have focused on literature and on the writings of the elite; this book broadens the scope of inquiry to include women's work in the farm household, courtesan entertainment, and women’s participation in ritual observances and religion. In dealing with literature, it shows how women's poetry can serve the historian as well as the literary critic, drawing on one of the first anthologies of women's writing compiled by a woman to examine not only literary sensibilities and intimate emotions, but also political judgments, moral values, and social relations.
After an introductory chapter that evaluates the historiography of Chinese women, the book surveys High Qing history, charts the female life course, and discusses women's place in writing and learning, in entertainment, at work, and in religious practice. The concluding chapter returns to broad historiographic questions about where women figure in space and time and why we can no longer write histories that ignore them.
Customer Reviews:
women but not gender.......2002-03-06
I am glad to see this book, because this book is the first book-length study of women during the High Qing. I think this book does not fulfill what it promises in the introduction -- to challgenge the lens of Orientalism. It is true that the book goes beyond the paradigm of oprresionn and subjugation and examines farm household, courtesan entertainment, religion, etc., but it tries too hard to claim a voice for Chinese women. Who is the author to "recover" Chinese women's voice? In reinventing the "traditional" woman, the author perpetuates the gaze on women. There are some complexities of different "types" of women, but the author lacks a critical self-reflection. Afterall, what alternative is she bringing in to replace Orientalism?
A Feminine View.......2000-07-25
To an even greater extent than in the West, the views of Chinese women have been seldom heard; Susan Mann's book attempts to correct that for women of the Qing Period (1644- 1911)although she comfortably moves back and forward in time to other periods. To an admirable degree, she succeeds in her task. She brings together primary sources from women themselves where possible but does not hesitate to supplement those sources with the work of male writers, often court officials, where necessary. Speaking of gender, a cover blurb (and to some extent the Introduction with its use of terms like 'male gaze' etc.) could suggest that this is a 'feminist' work. To view it as such would be a mistake;Mann is a highly respected scholar who happens to be of the female gender and she 'tells it like it was' without emphasising either sentimental or ideological aspects of the lives of Chinese women. Without wishing to downplay her obvious and genuine concern for feminine issues, she can only be described as a 'feminist historian'in the way that, say, Ursula LeGuin is a feminist writer of fantasy and science fiction or Alison Jolly a feminist writer on human evolution or biology. The work is clearly directed towards students of Chinese history but is well written and should be enjoyable to anyone with a serious interest in China (and with a little perseverence). Some chapters are dense and scholarly, like Chapter 4 on 'Writing' which explores many primary sources, whilst others read quite smoothly. This is not a criticism; just a fact of life for such a work. Mann does everything possible to ease the burden for her readers with, for example, many pertinent illustrations, references largely moved to comprehensive Endnotes and an English' Chinese character list. The book does not attempt to cover all areas of Qing history (thankfully) but covers the areas it promises to in great detail- a reader can ask for little more. Recommended.
Book Description
An ancient title of respect for women, the word “cunt” long ago veered off this noble path. Inga Muscio traces the road from honor to expletive, giving women the motivation and tools to claim “cunt” as a positive and powerful force in their lives. In this fully revised edition, she explores, with candidness and humor, such traditional feminist issues as birth control, sexuality, jealousy between women, and prostitution with a fresh attitude for a new generation of women. Sending out a call for every woman to be the Cuntlovin’ Ruler of Her Sexual Universe, Muscio stands convention on its head by embracing all things cunt-related. This edition is fully revised with updated resources, a new foreword from sexual pioneer Betty Dodson, and a new afterword by the author. “Bright, sharp, empowering, long-lasting, useful, sexy....”—San Francisco Chronicle “... Cunt provides fertile ground for psychological growth.”—San Francisco Bay Guardian “Cunt does for feminism what smoothies did for high-fiber diets—it reinvents the oft-indigestible into something sweet and delicious.”—Bust Magazine
Customer Reviews:
Femfolkart.......2007-09-17
Woman's Liberation don't have to be corny, whiny, nasty or boring, as this flip hip(pie) D.I.Y. riotgrrrrrrrrrr prolecult anarchist prosepoem 'zine(esque) masterpiece so amply demonstrates. Dissing both Eve Ensler's "corporate feminism" AND the Womyn-Born-Womyn separatists in equal measure, the 2nd Edition gracefully embraces queercunts, making Inga Muscio's anthem especially moderne politic. She doesn't write so much as rant on paper, euphoric anger and humor and daring, like Sleater-Kinney amping Angela Davis smartly Through The Flower (which the cover invokes). Wit and passion and power chords - the section on Granmmas For President brought psychedelic tears to my eyes. Heyheyhey, how many feminist treatises receive raves from MaximumR&R anyhoo?
The largest sex organ is the mind.............2007-06-05
An interesting etymology polluted by whacky hippie stew-brained lifestyle suggestions, which makes the archaeology of knowledge and thesis suspect. So this is no field manual for the Tactical Women's Assault Team on their take-back-the-night-language-history-power-whatever rampage. Still, that this book exists at all is evidence of the triumph of Western civilization over the primitivism this author confuses with her projections of ideological and bucolic freedom.
Really fun to have on your college dorm bookshelf. Sure to attract arguments with hairy-legged man-hating hags and fundy know-nothings alike, so crack a beer and prepare yourself for a non-Aristotelian laugh riot of a Symposium. First person to mention Chomsky looses.
The Ann Coulter of the Left.......2007-01-16
Before I write a review for this book, let me first say that I think that it is a joke that Amazon allows people to vote on whether they find reviews 'helpful' - if the review is positive and you like the book, you'll vote favorably; if it is negative and you like the book, you'll vote unfavorably. And vice versa. In any case, none of us actually have a 'blank slate.'
That having said, let me compare Inga Muscio to Ann Coulter. Both are extremists (the former a leftwing and the latter a rightwing) who are strong advocates of violence as a means of bringing about change and who are invited to college campuses around the country (if the college/university can afford them) to endorse their books (rather than to actively engage in dialogue with the students who might oppose them). Both are a bunch of self-important blowhards whose style is not even remotely academic - in the case of Muscio, swearing in every other sentence, not citing her references, hurling ad hominem attacks at people she dislikes, and repeating herself three times to make herself come off as profound; in the case of Coulter, distorting facts, making straw man/unverified/counterfactual claims, hurling ad hominem attacks at people she dislikes, and above all, just lying. Both authors do not deserve to have their works read by anyone invested in the business of truthseeking.
Now, for my review. To be fair, Inga deserves commendations for taking on a (sadly) risque subject in our culture, viz. promoting appreciation for the female genitalia. But why does such a (wo)manifesto have to include the glorification of abortion, violence towards men and a consistent undertone of revenge? I am male but am still very much pro-choice and am not entirely offended by strong feminist writing, even which advocates (however jokingly) killing men, but men too have been victimized by violence (committed by other men and women alike) and therefore, can and should be allies to ending violence against women. I recommend works by Eve Ensler, Betty Dodson, bell hooks, Betty Reardon, or Mary Daly if one wants true feminist scholarship.
Wow :).......2006-03-25
A little bit about my lens with which I view the world: I'm a 21 year old woman, a history major currently attending a military college with only 10% other women (which I don't mind,) straight, and a republican (fine, yell at me later.) That said, this book was my introduction into the world of herstory and just being a loving woman (both self and others.) I've always had these ideas hanging in the back of my head, and always been bothered by some blatant inequities, so ingrained in our societal mind that they're apparent even at my school, which does everything it can to ensure our sex does not hinder or help us in relation to the boys. I really enjoyed this new view of my body part which until now, was really just a huge pain, a constant reminder that I wasn't as fast or as strong as the boys, and that simply living entailed so many more risks than they had to take. I wasn't so cool with the section on abortion, but that's the author's choice, I kinda believe that unborn women have rights too.
I was amazed at the section on rape-- how it is committed by people with a complete and utter lack of respect, well, I can't paraphase it well, I don't have the book with me right now, but it was an outstanding point.
Thank God that we were all born in a time that women can *finally* start expounding on our right to equality and at the same time the blessing we have that we are different than men (but still wonderful!)
Interesting, pro-woman read.......2006-02-22
This book was given to me to read by a friend. It was one of the most inspiring, woman-friendly books I have ever read. I would encourage everyone, man, woman, whatever, to read it. I may not use sea sponges as sanitary pads or trust my sexual health to herbs, but if this book taught me one thing, it was to think before making a degrading comment about another woman, to accept myself, flaws and all, and to encourage other women to love themselves. As for my bias, well I am a pro-choice, female, democrat college student. But I encourage everyone to read it. Even if most of it offends you, I can't imagine anyone reading this book coming out of it worse off (ie disliking women, and all people, more) than they did prior to reading it.
Book Description
In the wake of Sassy and as an alternative to the more staid reporting of Ms., Bitch was launched in the mid-nineties as a Xerox-and-staple zine covering the landscape of popular culture from a feminist perspective. Both unabashed in its love for the guilty pleasures of consumer culture and deeply thoughtful about the way the pop landscape reflects and impacts women’s lives, Bitch grew to be a popular, full-scale magazine with a readership that stretched worldwide. Today it stands as a touchstone of hip, young feminist thought, looking with both wit and irreverence at the way pop culture informs feminism—and vice versa—and encouraging readers to think critically about the messages lurking behind our favorite television shows, movies, music, books, blogs, and the like. BITCHFest offers an assortment of the most provocative essays, reporting, rants, and raves from the magazine’s first ten years, along with new pieces written especially for the collection. Smart, nuanced, cranky, outrageous, and clear-eyed, the anthology covers everything from a 1996 celebration of pre-scandal Martha Stewart to a more recent critical look at the "gayby boom"; from a time line of black women on sitcoms to an analysis of fat suits as the new blackface; from an attempt to fashion a feminist vulgarity to a reclamation of female virginity. It’s a recent history of feminist pop-culture critique and an arrow toward feminism’s future.
Customer Reviews:
Thought-provoking and very entertaining.......2007-01-18
I had quit writing reviews for books for a long time now. I live in Turkey so I do not get the magazine, but I purchased the book after reading many favourable reviews here on Amazon.com. It turns out that I was missing a lot! This book has great, great articles, some are very original in essence and it keeps you interested. Although I, too, skipped a few of the articles, 90% of them are really good ones, about many different subjects. The articles are sharp, witty and it is good that the subject variety is satisfactory. If I could, I would translate it to Turkish so it can reach more people over here. Great, great stuff, if you are interested in popular culture as well as gender issues, this is the essential reading for you. Can't recommend it enough!
Buy this book.......2006-12-29
Disclaimer-I subscribe to Bitch Magazine and have for a number of years. I love it! When I saw this book at the university bookstore, I bought it and savored reading through the book.
What I really like about Bitch Magazine, more so than Bust, is that the articles are more theoretical and erudite. I don't consider them dry, but I am WS educator and view BM as more a cutting edge zine that demonstrates the various feminist strands that exist today in the 3rd Wave, No Wave era of the feminist movement.
Buy this book! Subscribe to the zine for thoughtful, well-written articles about all sorts of issues.
After that plug, let me just say that I don't always agree with the essays. Some will definitely leave you with that sense that you want to grab a coffee with a friend and hammer out some of your thoughts.
Great food for thought........2006-10-06
Gotta hand it to Bitch:
- All of the articles are well written, if a bit dry at times.
- Even if you don't agree 100% with what the author is saying they usually make some good points and at least make you think.
- Many different views of feminism are offered.
I highly reccomend this along with a subscription to Bitch Magazine.
No Home Should be Without This Book!.......2006-09-08
"No home should be without this book. It can save relationships, provide direction for those who want it and offer humor for those who need it."
Good, at times.......2006-08-28
This collection of articles from Bitch magazine is a necessity to women. I enjoyed quoting it on my blogs and reading sections to my friends while we sat on my patio.
Unfortunately, I found myself skipping over some articles due to the rather dry approach to writing that some of the authors used.
Book Description
In this first collection of her essays and short writings, Judith Plaskow, one of the founders of feminist theology and the founder of Jewish feminist theology, documents her personal and scholarly evolution. From her early days as a graduate student at Yale to her present work on sexual ethics, the essays in this volume trace Plaskow's work in feminist theology, Jewish feminist theology, and sexuality. Covering all of her major essays, including "The Coming of Lilith" and her pioneering work on anti-Judaism in Christian feminism, this book also includes several previously unpublished essays. Intelligently arranged and edited with the help of Donna Berman, this collection is indispensable for religious studies students, fans of Plaskow_s work, and those pursuing a Jewish education.
Book Description
Politics of Piety is a groundbreaking analysis of Islamist cultural politics through the ethnography of a thriving, grassroots women's piety movement in the mosques of Cairo, Egypt. Unlike those organized Islamist activities that seek to seize or transform the state, this is a moral reform movement whose orthodox practices are commonly viewed as inconsequential to Egypt's political landscape. Saba Mahmood's compelling exposition of these practices challenges this assumption by showing how the ethical and the political are indelibly linked within the context of such movements.
Not only is this book a sensitive ethnography of a critical but largely ignored dimension of the Islamic revival, it is also an unflinching critique of the secular-liberal principles by which some people hold such movements to account. The book addresses three central questions: How do movements of moral reform help us rethink the normative liberal account of politics? How does the adherence of women to the patriarchal norms at the core of such movements parochialize key assumptions within feminist theory about freedom, agency, authority, and the human subject? How does a consideration of debates about embodied religious rituals among Islamists and their secular critics help us understand the conceptual relationship between bodily form and political imaginaries? Politics of Piety is essential reading for anyone interested in issues at the nexus of ethics and politics, embodiment and gender, and liberalism and postcolonialism.
Customer Reviews:
dumping the baby with the bath water.......2006-03-20
Mahmood has a pleasant, easy-going style, which makes for good reading. She makes every effort in her ethnographic work to put herself into the place of the women of the mosque movement. She seems to look at the situation from the presupposition that people are purely products of their circumstances, which precludes much in the way of personal choice. I prefer to believe we do have choice. While I respect the choice these women have made, I think it would be a mistatke to assume that there's no coersion or oppression in their lives. That is, it's fine to accept the choices people make, but oppression is still oppression. Yes, let's see things as much as we are able from the subject's point of view, but lets not pretend oppression and subjugation aren't still oppression and sujugation.
A Radically New Way of Thinking About Feminist Issues in the Arab World.......2006-03-08
Radical feminists, of the post-structuralist or deconstructionist blend, have accustomed us to put into question notions that have long been a constitutive part of the liberal/progressive agenda and to critically reexamine well-established categories such as gender, class or race. It should therefore come as no surprise if Saba Mahmood, an anthropologist trained in the intellectual hotbed of UC Berkeley, provides a description of the Muslim world that goes against the grain of conventional wisdom and shatters many certainties held dear by feminists and liberals alike.
Mahmood's Politics of Piety is an ethnographic account of the Islamic revival in Egypt, viewed from the perspective of women of different walks of life who regularly attend religious lessons delivered by female preachers in mosques of Cairo. Teachings focus on the study of Islamic scriptures, but also address the social norms, personal orientations and bodily comportments deemed necessary to cultivate a pious and virtuous life.
This is the first time in Egyptian history that such a large number of women have mobilized to hold public meetings in mosques to teach each other Islamic doctrine, thereby altering the historically male-centered character of mosques as well as Islamic pedagogy. On the other hand, the women's mosque movement emphasizes conducts and virtues that are traditionally associated with feminine passivity and submissiveness, such as shyness, modesty, perseverance and humility (although these virtues have to be interpreted in an Islamic context).
Traditional feminist interpretations would tend to analyze this mosque movement through the normative framework of women's autonomy and emancipation, either to decry its participants' submission to oppressive norms or to detect strategies of resistance and reinterpretation that allow these women to articulate a distinctively female voice and agenda. Both interpretations would miss the point. They posit that women's self-realization and autonomy can only be asserted in opposition to prevailing social norms and institutions, whereas the women described by Mahmood draw their very raison d'etre and sense of identity from their submission to God's commands and their emulation of a virtuous self.
To illustrate this point, Mahmood takes the case of the Islamic veil, which has been the object of numerous studies. Although many explanations have been provided for its resurgence in modern Egypt, identifying the veil as a symbol of resistance to the hegemony of Western values or as a convenient device to navigate through urban space, few attention has been devoted to ideas of female modesty or piety as Islamic virtues, although it is in these terms that many women who decide to wear the veil frame their decision. According to their own words, the veil is not something that could be separated from the pious virtues of modesty and submission, as if one could oppose an "inner" self from its public display. Instead, bodily acts such as wearing the veil or conducting oneself modestly in the presence of men are both a mean for acquiring these virtues and these virtues themselves. The veil in this sense is the expression of the process of both being and becoming a certain kind of a person, and not the manifestation of a preformed self.
Mahmood's consideration for her informants' own words and justifications is not motivated by the anthropologist's desire to remain "true" to her subject: rather, the terms and concepts used by the mosque movement "talk back" to the analytical tools used in social science and to the presuppositions of the feminist agenda. She concludes by arguing that "the liberatory goals of feminism should be rethought in light of the fact that the desire for freedom and liberation is a historically situated desire whose motivational force cannot be assumed a priori, but needs to be reconsidered in light of other desires, aspirations, and capacities."
Book Description
In November 1996, Catherine Clément and Julia Kristeva began a correspondence exploring the subject of the sacred. In this collection of those letters Catherine Clément approaches the topic from an anthropologist's point of view while Julia Kristeva responds from a psychoanalytic perspective. Their correspondence leads them to a controversial and fundamental question: is there anything sacred that can at the same time be considered strictly feminine?
The two voices of the book work in tandem, fleshing out ideas and blending together into a melody of experience. The result is a dialogue that delves into the mysteries of belief -- the relationship between faith and sexuality, the body and the senses -- which, Clément and Kristeva argue, women feel with special intensity.
Although their discourse is not necessarily about theology, the authors consider the role of women and femininity in the religions of the world, from Christianity and Judaism to Confucianism and African animism. They are the first to admit that what they have undertaken is "as impossible to accomplish as it is fascinating." Nevertheless, their wide-ranging and exhilarating dialogue succeeds in raising questions that are perhaps more important to ask than to answer.
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Women's Lifeworlds: Women's Narratives on Shaping Their Realities (International Studies in Women and Place Series)
Edith Sizoo
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415171776 |
Book Description
Women's Lifeworlds is a collection of engaging narratives from fifteen women of various age groups, cultures, religions, social and geographical backgrounds. The stories cover the lives of their grandmothers, mothers, daughters, as well as their own testaments, to illustrate the changing meaning of "place" in women's lives over time and across space.
The women--from a Mexican polititican and Muslim psychiatrist to a Finnish housewife and Indian guru--explore the complexity of their perceptions to their own lives and their sources of strength. This book is a lively challenge to thegeneralized assumptions of how women in various historical and cultural contexts feel about womanhood, life, society, culture and religion.
Books:
- American Cinema/American Culture
- American Government (Cliffs Quick Review)
- Associated Press Reporting Handbook
- At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry
- Behold a Pale Horse
- Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power: The Rise and Risks of the New Conservative Hate Culture
- Boys To Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue
- Casino Operations Management
- Channels of Discourse, Reassembled: Television and Contemporary Criticism
- Chicken Soup for the Girlfriend's Soul: Celebrating the Friends Who Cheer Us Up, Cheer Us On and Make Our Lives Complete (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
Books Index
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