Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, and Fashion: A Discussion of Abu-Lughod, Massad, and Nacirema

 Rakel Tanibajeva

WGSS 206 Blog Post 5

Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, and Fashion: A Discussion of Abu-Lughod, Massad, and Nacirema

The readings for this week revolve around the theme “transnational feminist and queer movements,” but I want to focus specifically on the discussion of cultural relativism and the harm Western narratives continue to have on Islamic “nations” through Abu-Lughod, Massad, and Nacirema. 

In our feminist twenty-first century, gendered orientalism has taken on new life and forms. In the post-9/11 era, important issues of identity, religion, and human rights are increasingly centered on the contested universal human rights framework, cultural relativism, and the role of Islam1. Lila Abu-Lughod’s article, “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?,” addresses this critical dialogue. She investigates how the concept of rescuing Muslim women from what she refers to as "Islamland" gained traction, particularly in the aftermath of 9/11. The premise of the paper is that Western actors must reconsider widely held normative assumptions regarding the role Islam may or may not play in the repression of women in primarily Muslim communities and nation-states. According to Abu-Lughod, issues such as government structure, politics, and economics are more directly related to women's subjugation. Abu-Lughod’s focus is women in Islam, specifically the treatment of women and how it might be utilized as a justification for invading into a country and liberating its people. The countries Lughod refers to in her article are primarily Afghanistan and Egypt, and Lughod points out the misunderstanding from the people to the Bush administration like First Lady Laura Bush who believed that intervention was necessary to free women from the captivity of their own homes. Abu-Lughod emphasizes how the most fundamental conditions of these women's livelihoods are determined by political forces that are oftentimes national or even international in origin, even if they have local impact. What are often seen as “traditions” are thus in reality responses to war and uncertainty, economic and political upheaval and instability. For instance, in debates about Afghanistan, there is an overemphasis on cultural practices and little discussion about the effects of the injustices of war and militarization. Against this wider geopolitical background, she argues that concepts such as “oppression,” “choice” and “freedom” are blunt instruments for capturing the dynamics and quality of Muslim women’s lives in these places.

Colonialism, from its origin, spanned the entire globe, allowing the creation of a global modern and its subject during the nineteenth century. In "Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World," Joseph Massad confronts the problem of knowledge In a world that continues to be disproportionately divided along political, economic, and military lines—lines that are profoundly felt in the Middle East. He investigates how the emergence of “civilization” and “culture” as new objects of concern in the West—and, via colonialism, everywhere else—was burdened with a new temporality marked by an evolutionary conception of progress, in which a new hierarchy of moderns and non-moderns was brokered. The mapping of increasingly globalized human rights politics through the growth of the international gay rights movement complicates the latter as a reinscription of the East-West colonial-Orientalist divide. That activism now also projects a new binary between heterosexual and homosexual, forcing a choice between the two. this nineteenth-century projection of the advanced/progressive West and backwards/despotic East continues to legitimize imperialist actions and incites reactionary discourses.

It is important to emphasise that cultural relativism is arguably a less harmful a better outlook of other cultures than ethnocentrism, a worldview that has led to lethal and devastating interactions amongst cultures throughout history2. However, in her article Abu-Lughod argues that cultural relativism (analyzing someone's culture within the same culture rather than your own) is no longer enough-- cultures are no longer pure in the sense that, currently, all cultures have been influenced by others to some, if not a great, degree. In other words, no culture is isolated from all others. Therefore, a culture can not be observed and studied without considering the ways in which it has been touched by all other cultures. In my opinion Americans do not make the effort to truly understand Islamic culture; since I can remember many inaccurate and harmful interpretations circulate around Islamic Radicalists' for instance. A dichotomy has developed where American interpretation has clouded the actual wants and needs of Muslim women, while we simultaneouly expect our feminist movement to align with the goals of women's rights for Afghani women. I must admit that for a time I also thought head coverings were oppressive, and it wasn't until reading more literature and doing research that I became more knowledgeable. However, the fact is that everyone does not do their own research and take the general consensus in the media and whatnot at face value. Thus, it is important that these conversations are not only reserved for the educated but brought to the forefront, which begs the question-- how can this be accomplished? 

    Salvation is a term that connotes ethnocentrism. It assumes that the subjects in question need to be plucked from their circumstances and placed in a cleaner, more civilized environment, or that their culture itself needs to be made clean and civilized. But while cultures may indeed be facing certain oppression from which they need relief, this does not mean that all other aspects of their culture--aspects which may seem strange and oppressive to others--are not wanted or valued. The veil discussed by Abu-Lughod, for example, became key in the quest to rescue Muslim women, when in reality, the veil was not seen as oppressive to these women after all. According to Abu-Lughod, it instead serves as a symbolic and religious item that empowered women to be able to leave their homes in an appropriate and socially respectful manner. As I read in Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” for a past history class, there are many similar situations in American culture that might seem oppressive or self harming to an outside culture3. For example, the act of going to the hospital where an ill individual is “stripped of all his or her clothes,” and “assisted by a vestal maiden while he [or she] performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel,” is a very routine experience for most Americans, despite how it could be regarded as strange and terrible by another culture (Miner, 47). Another example, one more relatable to the veil of Abu-Laghad’s article, is American women dressing up for Sunday service4. I doubt that the American women wearing dresses to church are desperately longing for another culture to drop in and fight for their right to wear pajamas to Sunday service. Dressing up is simply their way of demonstrating respect and reverence. Yet another example is the wearing of wedding rings, symbolic items that signal to strangers that this individual is married and therefore not looking for a partner. The concept of wearing certain clothing due to social norms is not reserved to Islamic countries. It happens everywhere to varying degrees. We are all controlled by society's standard of “normal,” but we fixate on liberating other cultures as we consider our culture and lifestyle normal. We must thus acknowledge that some of these Muslim women feel the same way. Abu-Lughod urges us to focus our attention away from both ethnocentric salvation narratives and the naive version of cultural relativism that replaces it. Instead, we should ask how we might contribute to making the world a more just place by accepting the reality of difference.

1. This reading was particularly impactful as someone who grew up in an almost completely post 9-11 world. Growing up I was taught to us that the wars America fought and continues to fight are wars of freedom and salvation, but have come to know that that was propaganda to justify the destruction. Abu-Lughold includes speeches of Laura Bush that support this reality. The idea that the American public was bombarded with propaganda that swayed opinions towards fighting using reasons of, to 'save', to 'protect', and to 'bring about justice' is an uncomfortable realization. It really does seem almost incomprehensible that the United States remains in a war in Afghanistan that Abu-Lughod wrote about in 2002 and has basically been going on for the entire lifetime of today's college students.

2.   Ethnocentrism, the “evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture,” in America dates back to its origin. In reading Abu-Lubhold’s article, particularly with the discussion surrounding gowns and veils, I made a disturbingly similar connection to the cultural assimilation of Native Americans. Between the years 1790 and 1920 Americans basically took a bunch of young Native Americans off the reservations and brought them to american-indian boarding schools, such as the Carlisle Indian School, where the were forced to learn english, cut their hair and learn american customs while forgetting all of their Native traditions and customs behind. Americanization as a form of salvation is something that has been going on for too long, and it often saddens me that even after all this time of supposed progress this harmful and illusioned practice has not been effectively addressed (http://www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=airc_hist_boardingschools). 

3.  The Nacirema are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. Miner shows through his exploration of the group that Americans made their own interpretations based on their limited knowledge of Muslim culture (https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1956.58.3.02a00080). 

4.   I also want to note how some American Catholic and Jewish women cover their heads and yet I have not heard of efforts to save them from their oppression. Since some Western religious garb is similar to Middle Eastern religious garb, why are we so quick to assume that the Middle Eastern women need liberating?