By Dalila Mahdawi
Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 08, 2009
BEIRUT: Academics, activists and researchers gathered at the American University of Beirut (AUB) Wednesday for the third and last day of a major conference to discuss Arab feminisms. The conference, “Arab Feminisms: A Critical Perspective,” was organized by the Lebanese Association of Women Researchers (also known as Bahithat) in collaboration with AUB’s Anis Makdisi Program in Literature and several other universities. It brought together some 46 individuals from across the world for discussions on the state, challenges, and future of contemporary Arab feminisms.
The conference was the first major event of its kind in Lebanon to address present-day feminist thought in the Arab region, and showcased numerous emerging and often conflicting schools of thought in contemporary theory.
Earlier panels on Monday and Tuesday tackled such topics as Arab feminist historiography, Islamic, secular and colonial feminisms, masculinities, women and conflict, the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their funding, and feminist literature and cinema.
Tempers flared Wednesday after several participants lamented the absence of any discussion on sexuality, sexual desire and the body, leading to heated discussions over whether the rights of sexual minorities had a place in feminism.
Islah Jad of Birzeit University in Palestine discussed a paper on Palestinian women’s movements and expressed hope that a degree of common ground could be found between secular and Islamic feminist discourses in the realm of citizenship: “60 percent of Palestinians are still refugees and the Palestinian Authority is unable to consider them citizens,” she said.
Jad also spoke of the “need to increase awareness of ‘femocrats,’” referring to feminist bureaucrats in government. She said many femocrats in Palestine and the Arab world were appointed to their high position because of their affiliation to powerful men. “Some institutions have been ‘beautified’ with these women but we still do not know their capabilities,” Jad said.
She also said that Arab feminist movements could “not be studied away” from other movements in the region, noting that dubious foreign funding of some activities implicated feminist projects in the Arab world’s conflicts. That argument was reiterated by novelist, artist and activist Haifa Zangana, who presented a paper on the colonial feminisms and the funding, establishment and purpose of key women’s NGOs in Iraq.
Marnia Lazreg of Hunter College at the City University of New York discussed the phenomenon of re-veiling, arguing the “old discourse of oppression has given way to a discourse of apology,” and said she could see no justification for women outside the Muslim world to willingly don the Muslim head covering. Amal Amireh of George Mason University gave a spirited talk about how patriarchal Palestinian society overlooked women’s participation in resistance against Israeli occupation, citing how her female cousin’s injuries from resistance activities were met with regret and disdain while a male cousin’s similar injury was seen by the family and community as heroic self-sacrifice. Amireh also that argued the dawning of women suicide bombers was being used to attack the Arab feminism and gender equality movement.
Zainah Anwar, Malaysian journalist and former head of Sisters in Islam (SIS) said: “We in South East Asia do not have a problem identifying as Muslim and feminist, Muslim and gay, Muslim and having fun.” SIS highlight ways to work on women’s rights within a religious framework.
Read the article here: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=107266
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