Though Andrea Smith demonstrates the linkage between rape and colonialism in her article, she challenges the traditional idea that sexual violation is a consequence of the colonial process in a number of ways. For example, she clearly demonstrated that sexual violence is highly propagated by patriarchal perceptions, which most individuals held ever before the colonial process. Smith revealed that the Indian women in the U.S. are perceived to be easy to be raped and sexual violable just because the larger society consider them as dirty, or Impure. Based on patriarchal thinking, a body is said to be sexually violated if it was ‘pure’ (Andrea 73). In addition, Smith also challenged the idea that sexual violation is as a result of the colonial process by stipulating that the vice is mostly propagated by men due to their masculinity as well as the support that the latter receives from the patriarchal systems. For example, Smith recalls a scenario where two women from the Chicago Women of All Red Nations (which she is a member) were arrested after they were caught videotaping Mohawk crisis in the town of Oka. The duos were held in custody for eleven hours without being charged and they were denied to use the bathroom unless they accept the male police officers to watch them. In addition, walls of the cells that they were being held in were covered with pornographic magazines (Andrea 79-80). Consecutively, Smith also witnesses white racist mobs forcing a white woman to spread her legs in order for prove to them that she was she had hemorrhage after giving birth (Andrea 79). This scenario could have been slightly make sense if the white racists were harassing a non-white woman.
b).
The concepts of purification and elimination has been demonstrated to be relevant to the biopolitical and racial project of colonialism in a number of ways. For example, through the various ways in which races and nations attained sovereignty, the latter has been abused to the level of determining who is supposed to live or and who should die. Biopolitics occurs as a new mode of government system and its main role is to ensure the wellbeing and existence of its subjects. Moreover, during the colonialism period, the politics and environment of the subjects must be protected. One way of protecting the wellbeing of the subjects was through purification and elimination of the natives or the inferior groups within a given area. The means of purification and elimination could range to a number of ways, including controlling the reproductive health of the inferior groups. For example, the during the Nazism era, the Jews who had been invaded by the Nazi movement had to be controlled from multiplying ((Achille 12-16). Women were being hunted down and slaughtered since they have the potential through childbirth. In the U.S. the native Indian women and children were being systematically eliminated by the troops of the colonizers (Andrea 78-79). Additionally, Foucault knew that racism existed long before, ad has been inscribed as one of the basic mechanisms of power of the modern states through the emergency of biopower. Racism has been embraced as a precondition for killing, and in society must be defended, the inferior species are eliminated by the superior species.
c).
In his article, Frantz Fanon stipulated the contribution of the veil in frustrating colonial penetration in Algeria. Precisely, in the Algerian society, women were required to put on a veil as a way of demonstrating their passion of adhering with the cultural way of demarcating the feminine component from the rest of the Algerian society. Just the same way that Muslims distances themselves from having sexual relations during the month of Ramadhan, wearing a veil among women is one of the physical feature that distinguishes Arab women from the rest, including foreigners and tourists. In addition, the aspect of Algerian women wearing a veil does not only help in revealing the society`s uniqueness, but also revealing their unity or togetherness as a society. The fact that wearing of a veil served as a reinforcement of the unity of the Algerian society, it was one of the major frustrating elements of the penetration of the French colonizers. In order to destabilize the unity of the Algerian locals, the French administration perceived that unveiling the Algerian women was the most effective strategy that would have ease their dream of colonizing this society. Precisely, the colonial administration defined its political doctrine claiming that, “If we want to destroy the structure of the Algerian society, its capacity for resistance, we must first of all conquer the women; we must go and find them behind the veil where they hide themselves and, in the houses, where the men keep them out of sight” (Frantz 57-58). The colonial administration launched their political doctrine by enlightening Algerian women claiming that they are sequestered, humiliated, cloistered and oppressed by their male counterparts through being forced to wear veils. They pressed Algerian women to denounce the centuries old subjection of wearing veils, and instead pursue their freedom of wearing modern fashioned dresses and seeking employment opportunities just like the Algerian men. The dream of the French administration in Algeria was to destabilize the communal structure as well as weakening Algerian men as much as possible. The occupiers knew that when they win most women from doing away with veils, they will manage to create internal conflicts amongst the Algerian mean and women. Precisely, majority of Algerian men would oppose the newly transformed and unveiled women while the latter would negate from giving in to the demands of resuming the aspect of putting on veils again, and this would create a golden opportunity for the occupier to colonize Algerians without much resistance.
Moreover, the veil served as a perfect way of covering the body of the Algerian women, to such an extent that even those who have managed to unveil themselves could always feel uncomfortable walking on the streets without it. Precisely, women who have gave in to the tactics of the colonizers could feel like they are almost naked or uncomplete without a veil, and this stimulated some of them to resume wearing a veil, which in the long run frustrated the objective of the colonizers. In addition, by wearing a veil, most Algerian women managed to effectively carry weapons such as grenades, guns and other explosives and easily attack the colonizers, and this further enhanced their frustrations of colonizing the Algerian society (Frantz 50-55).
Que. 2
a).
In his article, Robert Bernasconi has explained Hegel`s philosophy of history in a number of ways, and much emphasis can be made on the manner in which he explained the phenomenon in relation to Eurocentrism and racism. Bernasconi implicitly and explicitly posits the European cultural and historical values as superior to those of the non-westerners, in order to help in producing and justifying the dominant position that Europe holds. Bernassconi starts explaining the philosophy of history by starting that the world history starts in Asia and ends in Europe, and totally excludes the African continent from the world history. Though he acknowledged that the world history starts in Asia, he clearly reveals that the Europe history and cultures are the best and dominant ones since they have not changed over time like those of Asia. The manner in which he treats Asian countries which are perceived to have the oldest written historical records shows that he does not fully acknowledge their historical elements and cultures since most of these countries have failed to preserve their historical and cultural values (Robert 178-179). Actually, most of the Asian countries are included in the philosophy of history with conditions. For example, he included China in the philosophy and as the oldest since it has the oldest written historical records. At the same time, he rules out China in the philosophy due to its inability to advance its historical values. Addition, India is perceived to be the second in the hierarchy because it has legends. Apparently, he criticizes India due to lack of upholding the principle of freedom and governing state (Robert 180). Persia is included due to its principle of development, while Greece is included and hailed due to its advancement of its cultural values and civilization. In Africa, Hegel only mentions Egypt to have slightly contributed to the world history and this is due to race and the perception that Egypt is an immediate neighbor to Europe (Robert 184-186).
When it comes to the integration of Africa in the philosophy of history, Hegel claimed that the former did not make any contribution to the world`s history, and its historical and cultural values cannot be exercised anywhere in the world. Precisely, Africa does not upload the principle of freedom, civilization, and development (Robert 179).
b).
The term orientalism is general and broad in terms of its meaning and application. Apparently, orientalism entails an integral aspect of the European material culture and civilization. It represents and expresses a particular part that is ideologically, materially and culturally perceived as an approach of discourse with supporting scholarship, vocabularies, institutionally, doctrines, imagery, and even colonial styles and colonial bureaucracies. In the academic tradition, orientalism entails a mode of thinking that is grounded upon an epistemological and ontological distinction that is made between occident and the orient. The European culture gained its identity and strength by distancing itself against the orient as a sort of underground self and surrogate (Edward 2-3).
Apparently, there are a number of reasonable qualifications that an individual can go on to state concerning orientalism. First, it is unfair for an individual to claim that the orient was essentially a creation or an idea with no corresponding reality (Edward 5). He claimed that the aspect of orientalism principally focuses on the internal concurrence of orientalism and its ideas about the orient rather than the correspondence between the two. In the second qualification, the author stipulated that cultures, histories, and ideas cannot not seriously learnt or contemplated in the absence of their configurations of power or force being studied as well. Precisely, the association between orient and occident is an association of dominance, power, and of different degrees of a complex hegemony. The third qualification stipulates that an individual should never anticipate that the orientalism structure is nothing more than a structure of myths or lies, would simply blow away, or were the truth about them to be told (Edward 6). According to Edward, if any system can remain unmodified as teachable wisdom (in books, academics, foreign service institutions, and universities) for centuries in developed countries such as the United States, then such a system is more formidable than a mere collection of lies. This means that the aspect of orientation is not an airy European fantasy concerning the orient, but an established body of practice and theory that has been a considerable material investment for numerous generations.
Que. 3
The term necropolitics entail the aspect of making use of political and social power in order to dictate who should live and who must die (Achille 11-12). Michel Foucault broadly summarized the aspect of using political and social power to dictate who is supposed to live and who is destined to die through the use the term Biopower, which is the life domain over which power has taken control. The aspect of using political and social power to terminate lives and spare others constitutes the limits of sovereignty, which entails the aspect of exercising control over mortality, as well as defining life as the deployment and demonstration of the amount of power that a given institution, region or nation possess.
According to the author, necropolitics is related to sovereignty in a number of ways. Generally, the initial objective of sovereignty is to enhance freedom or autonomy of individuals especially so as to attain self-institution and self-limitation. Precisely, the process of exercising sovereignty entails empowering the society to seek self-creation through recourse to various institutions within it that are influenced by specific imaginary and social significations (Achille 13). Apparently, necropolitics relates to sovereignty in that instead of the latter focusing on the struggle for autonomy, it focuses on generalized instrumentation of human existence as well as material mutilation of human bodies and populations (Achille 14). Precisely, when sovereignty is examined in the lens of necropolitics, it is equivalent to death camps where we still live. The author supports his claims by bringing in the Hegelian paradigm which stipulates that human death is voluntary especially due to the fact that human beings in a sovereign society destructs the environment or nature despite being aware that nature is a fundamental resource for human survival.
Moreover, necropolitics also relates to vertical space, where the actions that takes place constitutes to the politics of verticality. Precisely, colonial occupations operate in over and underpasses, in such a way that the former is christened to the urban optical devices that are meant to provide surveillance as well as the exercise of power while the latter is the lowland terrains which are controlled by the former (Achille 27-29). Precisely, rather than having two nations being separated across a boundary line, there are provisional boundaries. The developed nations control, separate and monitor the developing nations. In addition, in the present world, the various wars that are being reported cannot be contemplated through the conventional theories of just and unjust wars or even contractual violence. Instead, contemporary wars are understood through war machineries that nations possess. Precisely, in the present times the gap between high tech and low-tech war machineries has been on the rise. However, nations with high-tech war machineries force those which have low-tech machineries to submit themselves regardless of the side effects, immediate consequences, and the collateral damage of the military actions (Achille 29-31). Moreover, the author also reveals that necropolitics is also related to martyrdom and suicide. Precisely, most individuals in the Muslim countries volunteer to die for the betterment of their country, including carrying explosives on their body and detonate them at the areas where their enemies are concentrated (Achille 37-38). Though this act is almost similar to martyrdom, it is not different from suicide since human body is turned as a dangerous weapon.
Que. 4
a).
Thobani strongly criticized feminism in relation to the war on terror especially due to the manner in which the feminists aimed at showing their white supremacy. Precisely, Thobani stipulates that the feminist and race theorist has contemplated whiteness as a form of subjectivity which is historically contextual and socially constructed. In addition, considering that the political and economic power of the West is globally recognized as strong, most feminist theorists take advantage of this notion to exalt their supremacy even when defining the nature of others. In addition, Thobani also contemplated that the feminists from the West, who have historically had a complex association with the imperial and colonial projects have been on the forefront of extending white racial supremacy across the globe and this had been a major threat to the cultural values of the inferior women that they claim to liberate. For example, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Bush administration identified that the war on terror should also entail liberating Afghanistan women from being oppressed by their male counterparts (Sunera 170). However, the white feminists focused on theorizing the war on terror rather than empowering the victims.
After the aftermath of 9/11, Thobani criticized the work of three feminists which are not limited to Judith Butler, Phyllis Chesler and Zillah Eisenstein in a number of ways. For example, Thobani criticizes Chesler`s feminism work which shows the support for the war on terror. However, though the war on terror is necessary to everyone, the manner in which Chesler support the Bush Administration`s violence response to the Muslim territories is barbaric, since it just one of manifesting its military power. Moreover, to a large extent, Thobani seems to support both Butler and Eisenstein`s feminism work. For example, in her work, Butler condemned Bush administration for responding with violence, violating civil rights and dehumanization of the Muslims instead of focusing on the fundamental war aspects such as the root causes of problem between the Americans and the Muslims as well as addressing security loopholes to prevent future attacks. Addition, Eisenstein also criticized Bush administration for focusing on war abroad whereas there have been numerous class wars within American that the administration has failed to respond to (Sunera 173). She claimed that the U.S. itself has a long history of exploitation and violence even at the present times, including slavery and discrimination.
b).
According to Doha, there are three kinds of feminisms which were prevalent between 1979-2011. The first type entails the consolidation of the Islamism, which took place during the 1980s. during this decade, the cold war had dissociated political antagonisms including the Middle East. However, during this decade, there was a comprehensive fledged Islamic revival in the South/Central Asia and in the Middle East. This was followed by the U.S. Hegemony and Islamic Reconfiguration which occurred between 1991 and 2001. During this decade, the U.S. emerged as the global power after the end of the Cold War, while the Islamists started opposing the U.S. hegemony policy. Additionally, the Taliban emerged as a governing force for the Islamic nations (Tanzeen 45-49). The third type of feminism entails the war on terror and the discourse of ethics, which occurred between 2001 and 2011. This decade was marked by the 9/11 attack by the Al-Qaida, which stimulated the launching on the war on terror by the Bush administration ((Tanzeen 52-55).
However, Doha has stipulated three major exceptions to the rule of feminist ideology. The first exception entails the Sunera Thobani`s work, White Wars: Western Feminisms and the ‘War on Terror’” which she published in 2007. In her work, Thobani revealed three feminist texts which were published after the 9/11 attack showing divergent political views of the authors especially when it comes to the treatment of violence as well as the representation of the white imperial subjects and Muslim Others. Thobani dismantled the writings of Phyllis Chesler and Zillah Eisenstein in the manner that the former focuses on civilization arguments against Muslims and Islam while the latter argues against the patriarchy point that the masculinity of American is similar to the misogyny of the Taliban (Tanzeen 32). The second exception entails the 1987 groundbreaking essay where Hortense Spillers describes how the conditions of slavery and its resulting history has stimulated the process of un-gendering for Black subjects (Tanzeen 32-33). Spiller`s essay shows the incompatibility of normative gender and blackness, which did not arise due to lack of interest in gender relations, but due to the civil society`s support of the whites. The third exception entails the 1983 text of Gayatri Spivak, who dismantled the Western theoretical and philosophical interest in subjective essentialism and representation. In her work, Spivak demonstrated that what Deleuze and Foucault considers as non-represented and unnamed subjects or arranged by desire and power (Tanzeen 33-34).
Que. 5
a).
In her article, Lila Abu-Lughod stipulated that there are numerous dangers of trying to save others within the structure of the war on terror, and even goes to the extent of recommending alternative ways including working with the victims in situations that are necessary to their historical transformation. First, trying to save others, such as the Muslim woman may end up disrupting the cultural values that the victims adheres to, and may end up exerting another form of violence besides the Taliban war (Lila 784). For example, the U.S. had at one time decided to enlighten Muslim women from wearing veil, with the perception that the practice of putting on vein was introduced by the Taliban group. However, this was not the case, due to the fact that wearing of veil, was a Muslim tradition which symbolically meant a means of separating men and women spheres, as part of the general association of women with the family and home, and not with the public spheres where strangers mingle with each other (Lila 785). Precisely, trying to save Muslim women from wearing veil may end up bearing no fruits since the latter understands the importance of the veil in relation to their culture. For example, Feminist women in the U.S. trying to save Afghanistan women from this dressing practice may fail to succeed since it is rooted to the Muslim culture.
Moreover, trying to save Muslim women within the structure of the war on terror may stimulate internal violence which could not have been there if this form of saving would not have been embraced. Precisely, considering the aspect of wearing a veil, the Feminist Groups from the U.S. may put the women who may give in to putting away the veil at risk of being attacked by the Taliban group and Muslima men and women since they may be seen as they have betrayed Muslim cultural values (Lila 788). For example, the Taliban group may decide to attack and even kill Muslim women who have decided to unveil themselves, and this may result to the deaths of numerous innocent lives.
b).
In their article, Charles Hirschkind and Saba Mahmood stipulated and analyzed a number of assumptions concerning ways in which the feminist majority and other groups can succeed in the campaign of rescuing Afghan women, rather than dwelling on the existing inadequacies for this campaign. The first assumption that these authors stipulated entails the adoption of counterinsurgency measures, which would strongly the tactics of the Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalism. For example, the American government needs to stop providing financial and resource aid to the most conservative and extreme Islamic groups from the Afghan opposition in order to minimize the flexibility of the Taliban group. This is due to the fact that Actually, majority of the aid ended benefiting the Taliban rather than the intended groups, and in some situations, the intended group has a history of oppressing Afghan women. For example, one group which always received more than 50 percent of the U.S. is being headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a person who is widely known for destroying the faces of women who refuse to wear the veil using concentrated acids (Charles & Saba 343). Additionally, some of the Central Intelligence Agents (CIA) who are responsible for the U.S. arms supply to the Islamic groups are corrupt, to such an extent that they have been turning a blind eye to arms leaks. This has been making numerous arms being sold in open markets, and the worst thing is the even the Taliban members used to access them with ease.
Moreover, another assumption is that there is need for the American government to stop treating all Islamic groups as propagators of Afghan women oppression, and instead focus on the specific propagators such as the Islamic fundamentalists. Another assumption is that the American government should focus on curbing the production and trafficking of narcotics as well as militarization in Afghanistan, especially due to the fact that there is a positive correlation between these behaviors and immoralities such as raping of women (Charles & Saba 347-349). The last assumption is that there is need of abolishing public religion in Afghanistan, and instead make the Islamic religion a private and personal practice. By privatizing and personalizing the Islamic religion, the Muslims would not only become civilized, but also mold their behavior to the extent that it becomes acceptable to secular sensibilities (Charles & Saba 351-352).
Works Cited
Achille Mbembe. Necropolitics. Duke University Press. Public Culture, Volume 15, Number 1, Winter 2003, PP. 11-40.
Andrea Smith. Not An Indian Tradition; The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples. Hypatia, Vol. 18, No. 2, Indigenous Women in the Americas. Spring 2003, PP. 70-85.
Charles Hirschkind and Saba Mahmood. Feminism, the Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency. The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research. Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Spring, 2002), pp. 339-354.
Frantz Fanon. A Dying Colonialism. Grove Press, New York. 1965 print.
Lila Abu-Lughod. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association. American Anthropologist, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 783-790.
Robert Bernasconi (2000) With what must the philosophy of world history begin? On the racial basis of Hegel's eurocentrism, Nineteenth Century Contexts, 22:2, 171-201, DOI: 10.1080/08905490008583507
Edward W. Said. Orientalism. Vintage Books Publishers, New York.
Sunera Thobani. White Wars: Western Feminisms and the War on Terror. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2007 Print.
Tanzeen R. Doha. Specters of Islam: Anti-Islamist (Re)Presentations in Secular Media and Feminism (1979–2011). The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 35:2
