Reference no: EM133763165
Assignment:
One of the values of intersectional analysis is that it helps us understand how different people within one social group (e.g. women) experience that identity (being female) differently depending on their membership in other groups. So a Latina experiences being female differently than an Asian woman, and a poor white woman experiences her femaleness differently than a wealthy white woman. Intersectional analysis tells us that to understand the complexity of issues related to power, privilege, and oppression we must simultaneously examine various social hierarchies (those related to race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion and nation) and where an individual falls within those hierarchies (are they part of the privileged group in that category?).
Many Americans see a veiled Muslim woman and assume that she is oppressed. Is this true? Are all veiled Muslim women oppressed? Is the veil the proof of their oppression? As with all stereotypes, we should ask questions about this idea: Where did this notion come from? How do we know if it's true? Who benefits from this stereotype?
On her website, Sociological Images, Dr. Lisa Wade tries to get us to think about these questions by noting:
"Many believe that the U.S. is at the pinnacle of social and political evolution. One of the consequences of this belief is the tendency to define whatever holds in the U.S. as ideal and, insofar as other countries deviate from that, define them as problematic. For example, many believe that women in the U.S. are the most liberated in the world. Insofar as women in other societies live differently, they are assumed to be oppressed. Of course, women are oppressed elsewhere, but it is a mistake to assume that "they" are oppressed and "we" are liberated. This false binary makes invisible ways in which women elsewhere are not 100% subordinated and women here also suffer from gendered oppression."
A false binary is when we are presented with two mutually-exclusive options: It is either A or B. The word "binary" means having two parts (the prefix "bi" means two). The idea is that false binaries are false because they reduce a complicated issue down to one simple either/or choice. This reduction doesn't give us a full sense of the issue and encourages to miss critical points related to the topic.
To illustrate her point about the false binary between "oppressed" and "liberated" women, Wade includes the following image by cartoonist Malcolm Evans. If the cartoon doesn't show up for you in Canvas, you can click here to see it. For an audio description of the image click here.
Lila Abu-Lughod also wants us to think about this false binary between "oppressed" Muslim women and "liberated" American women. She wants us to ask questions about why this false binary is used -- how does it serve certain political interests.
Prompt
After reading her essay, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others," what do you think Abu-Lughod would say about Evans's cartoon? and should make specific references to points from Abu-Lughod's essay-explain what her argument is and how her argument relates to Wade's point about the false binary represented by the cartoon.