Orientalism, the Veil and Representation of Muslim Women - Literature review Example

Orientalism, the veil and representation of Muslim Women Orientalism refers to the depiction or imitation of certain aspects of the Asian or Eastern cultures among the Westerners by people like designers, writers, and artists. Veil, on the other hand, refers to the dressing of a particular group of people, especially the Muslim women. Orientalism according to Edward Said According to Edward Said, the Europeans divided the world into two major parts; the occident and the orient or the west and east respectively. The west or the occident was the civilized group whereas the orient or the east was the uncivilized group. The boundary was laid using the ‘theirs’ and ‘ours’ or ‘them’ and ‘us’ concept. The Europeans used the concept of orientalism in defining themselves. There are certain attributes that were mainly associated with the Orientals only. Such attributes could not be found among the Occidents. The Europeans defined and considered themselves superior compared to the Easterners. Their civilization was justified using this concept of orientalism. They claimed that the role of making or bringing civilization to the uncivilized societies lay squarely within their hands. Through this, they justified all their activities, including the torturing and oppressive ones. The main problem caused by this was that the Europeans generalized all the characteristics they had associated with the Orientals to every individual from the Eastern world (Trefflich, 2011 p132). They went ahead and spread the primitive and uncivilized information and idea to their western world through various means such as literary books, media, and reports. These definitely led to the creation of a certain image in the minds of the Orientals. This infused a bias and an attitude among the Europeans towards the Easterners or the Orientals. In addition to the above, the Orientals culture was explained to the Europeans by comparing and linking them to them to the European culture. A typical example of this was the conversion of Muslim religion to Mohammadism. The underlying criterion they applied in this was that Christ is to Christian religion therefore, Mohammed should represent Mohammadism. Orientalism according to George Landow Landow argues that Said’s argument and assertion on orientalism is biased. He goes ahead and chides Said for intentionally ignoring and avoiding several non-Arab Asian nations and the existing non-western civilizations. He says that Said does not touch on gender issues. Moreover, Said says that orientalism assumes and ignores countries such as Japan, South and North Korea and China (Martin, 2006 p 234). He also criticizes the homogenization of the east. Lastly, Landow says that Said overlooked the contributions of the Easterners in different fields such as Agrarian Revolution in Egypt. In summary, Landow is totally against Said’s approach and reasoning on orientalism. Orientalism according to Bernard Lewis In his response to Said’s claim, Lewis described Islam as a mass phenomenon or irrational herd applying instincts, passions, and unreflecting hatreds to rule Muslims. He says that the main point of Said’s position is to frighten the audience or readers of his work. He also says that Islam does not, in any away, develop and so do the Muslims. Lewis also rejects Said’s claim that the Western education scholarships were biased, and very few Easterners got the awards compared to students from other nations. He says that the English and French pursued Islamic study during the 17th and 16th century. The study was not an organized one and they had no hope of controlling the Middle East. He says that Said’s study did nothing in advancing the cause of imperialism. Veil and Representation of Muslim Women Orientalism and affected most people especially Muslim women in the Western world. One example of orientalism and its effects to the people is L’affaire du foulard or the affair of the scarf (Clark, 2007 p 241). The case involved three Muslim girls at adolescent stage being denied access to French government schools because of wearing headscarf or hijab. The act defied the 1937 French Law, which was against any activities related to wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in the French government schools. As mentioned earlier by Said, orientalism was spread in different parts of the western world via media and led to the infusion of a bad attitude towards the Easterners and their culture (Zine, 2006 p 240). This step taken by the French government affected the social, as well as, the cultural lifestyles of the three Muslim girls. It alienated them from other girls. It also despised their traditional cultural practice of women wearing hijab. Some researchers like Yula-Davis and Anthias argue posit that women are always emblematic of national boundaries and they serve the role of nation reproducers. In Canada Muslim and other black women are represented in popular media. In addition, the media also represent their labor force ghettoization and citizenship exclusion (Jiwani, 2002 p 53). This implies that Muslim women in Canada are suffering as laborers to the locals. This is due to the earlier preformed attitude of the Canadians against the Muslims. This attitude was brought about by orientalism through the media (Ahmed, 2006 p 191). Denying Muslim women citizenship in Canada also denied them the freedom to work in various Canadian companies. This, in turn, lowered their economic empowerment. This happened even in learning institutions. An example of this is the Emilie Ouimet case of a French Canadian girl who decided to convert into Muslim. The girl was expelled from school since she refused to remove her hijab as requested. As we all understand, education is the only means that a person can fight any economic problems. Education is also the source power in a society. Lack of it renders an individual powerless and with no leadership claims. Jabbra explains oppression among the Middle Eastern women through their dressings. “Such garments symbolize to Americans that Middle Eastern women are all the same, oppressed, repressed, suppressed, voiceless, and faceless, without agency or action” (Jabbra, 2006 p 240). Through this, Jabbra states that the types of dressing among the Islamic women are symbol of their weakness to fight for their freedom. He terms the types of attires as oppressive. Ahmad asserts that the Westerners takes that the Muslim women hide their faces and this affects them negatively (Ahmad, 2001 p 67). To the Westerners, the idea of covering their faces is to unknowingly allow their men dominate them politically and economically. They take the veil, among the women as a depiction and symbol of slavery (Bullock, 2002 p89). Kiersh asserts that the effects of doing away with the veil in countries like France have led to the rift between the Muslim community and the law enforcers. The law enforcers are mostly non-Muslims (Kiersh, 2009 p156). He also states that the Europeans associate the women observing veils with terrorism activities, thus, refusing to offer them jobs (Archick, 2012, 33). The veil among the Muslim women is also evident in the film, Social, and intellectual change. The film is mainly about the perception of the Western people on the veil. The film talks of the way in which the Muslim women in the West and Algeria are treated due to their dress attires. Some veiled women, especially in Montreal have turned against their culture and started organizing their own secret prayers. The film specifically shows the effects of veiling among the Muslim women. References Ahmad, F. (2001) Book Review of Katherine Bullock’s Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil Challenging Historical & Modern Stereotypes Department of Sociology University of Bristol, Bristol, UK http://i-epistemology.net/attachments/691_Ajiss19-4%20-%20Book%20Reviews%20-%20Rethinking%20Muslim%20Women%20and%20the%20Veil%20-%20Challenging%20Historical%20and%20Modern%20Stereotypes.pdf Archick, K., Belkin, P, Blanchard, C., Carl & Mix, Derek E. (2010) Muslims in Europe: Promoting Integration and Countering Extremism Congressional Research Service Accessed http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33166.pdf Bullock, K. (2002) Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil Challenging Historical & Modern Stereotypes The International Institute of Islamic Thought Paperback pp. 1-38 Accessed http://www.iiituk.com/docs/pdf/preamble-veiling-v3.pdf Clark, S. (2007) Female Subjects of International Human Rights Law: The Hijab Debate and The Exotic Other Female Routledge Accessed 2012-02-19 http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cpar20 Jabbra, Nancy W. (2006). Women, Words and War: Explaining 9/11 and Justifying U.S. Military Action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Journal of International Women’s Studies, Vol. 8 #1, November 2006. Jiwani, Y. (2005). The Great White North Encounters Sept 11: Race, gender and nation in Canada’s national daily, the Globe and Mail, Social Justice, 32 (4), pp.50-69.  Hoodfar, H. (1994).The Veil in their Minds and on our Heads: the Persistence of Colonial Images of Muslim Women.RFR/DRF Volume 22 Number 3/4Department of Sociology and Anthropology Concordia University Montreal, Quebec pp. 5-18 Accessed http://www.umass.edu/wost/syllabi/spring06/hoodfar.pdf Kiersh, A. (2009) why the Headscarf Ban is wrong for France. Accessed on http://www.sikhcoalition.org/documents/AaronKiershEssay.pdf Lewis, B. (2002). What went wrong?: the clash between Islam and modernity in the Middle East. New York, NY: Perennial Publishers. Martin, D. (2006). Sex and the single Savior: gender and sexuality in biblical interpretation .New York, NY: Presbyterian Publishing Corp. Trefflich, C. (2011). Edward Saids Orientalism: A Reflection. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag. Zine, Jasmin (2006). Unveiled Sentiments: Gendered Islamophobia and Experiences of Veiling among Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School pp. Equity & Excellence in Education, 39: 239–252, 2006 Copyright _c University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education ISSN 1066-5684 print /1547-3457 online DOI: 10.1080/10665680600788503 Routledge Accessed http://www.interfaithjustpeace.org/pdf/zine_unveiled_sentiments_2008.pdf Read More