Islam in a Global Context: Wadjda and Jinn

    – Emily DiAlbert

Throughout the semester, we’ve discussed several differences between the Global North and the Global South. We’ve also touched on the variance in the cultural values of different regions and how that variance impacts women.

Most recently we watched Wadjda, a film that details the life of a young Muslim girl living in Saudi Arabia. We follow her as she learns the certain gender expectations of her country that are strongly rooted in the Islamic religion, and while she disputes them, she and the women who surround her are forced to comply. Wadjda, in a way, reminded me of another film I watched recently, Jinn. This movie shows the journey of an American teenage girl whose mother abruptly converts to Islam and asks her to do the same, which she really struggles with.

The two films compare in that they both profile young girls coming of age in the same religion. They’re both learning the norms and customs of Islam, which includes learning its gendered expectations. Like Wadjda, Summer (the teenage girl in Jinn) really struggles to adhere to the norms, such as covering one’s hair. However, even with similar struggles, because Summer is growing up in the Global North and Wadjda is growing up in the Global South, their experiences with Islam are almost completely different.

The film Wadjda, set in Saudi Arabia, shows the stricter side of Muslim women’s experiences, as the country bases its rules on Sharia law. Wadjda’s mother is not allowed to drive to work as a woman, and she is also not allowed to show her face to men who are not her husband. At Wadjda’s school, the students actively read and practice the Quran as a part of their daily curriculum. And after school, Wadjda’s friend, who’s a boy, gets to ride a bicycle while she does not. Wadjda tends to find the gendered expectations of women in her country highly oppressive and also does not understand them. While Wadjda battles oppressive gender expectations in the Global South, Summer, who is growing up the U.S., battles with the misconceptions of Islam and the prejudices that Muslims face in America.

In Jinn, when Summer first finds out her mother, who is a well-known TV meteorologist, is converting to Islam, she tells her mom that she doesn’t want her to spend time with terrorists. Summer also questions her mom for covering her hair and her skin and says she doesn’t need to. After Summer ends up attending services at the mosque with her mother, she’s bullied at school and also asked by teachers to explain “the Muslim perspective.” However, Summer is not subject to the same gendered oppressions that Wadjda is. She lightly covers her hair, wears “normal” clothing, rides bikes and is a dancer.

The changes in cultural perspective can vary greatly between the Global North and the Global South. When it comes to Islam, in Saudi Arabia within the Global South, women are less berated for their religion itself than they are for not following its customs. In America, within the Global North, things are the opposite. The difference between the two girls’ experiences of the same religion highlights how perspectives can change from culture to culture, and it also shows us how malleable one’s experience of coming of age can be in different contexts.

You can watch the trailer for Jinn below: 

Extent of Child Marriage in India

While researching for my final paper, I realized the full extent of the child marriage problem in India. Through my research, I found that despite the laws put in place against child marriage, as of 2014, there were almost 900 million boys and girls in illegal child marriages. I found an article on an Indian feminist website that discusses the state of child marriage in 2017. This article states that the amount of marriages of girls in the 15-17 year old age group is four times the amount of girls in the 10-14 year old age group, but there were no new marriages of girls or boys below the age of 10 in the 2011 census. There also was an increase in marriages of girls in urban areas and a decrease in rural areas, which is interesting because while researching for my part of the final paper, I found the family planning program funded by the Indian government wants to focus their efforts in rural areas due to the fact that there was a higher number of women with more knowledge on reproductive health in urban areas compared to rural areas in 2014. 

            The article discusses the effects child marriage has on young boys and girls. Being married at such a young age takes away these children’s childhoods and impacts their educational development, in addition to increasing the chances of health problems during pregnancy for young mothers. During my research for the final paper, I found that early pregnancies can lead to increased child bearing over time and an unhealthy amount of time between births. Not only does child marriage lead to physical health problems, it can also lead to an increased chance of the child suffering through depression, anxiety, and resorting to self-harm. Delaying marriages helps decrease the chance of young girls and boys going through physical and mental health problems. 

            Even though there are laws put in place to prevent child marriage, these laws can be considered problematic and they are often not enforced very strictly. According to the article, “the laws for child marriage and other social ills like dowry are ignored as they go against the social customs of people”. The article also states that Justice AK Sikri used Section 375 of Indian Penal Code as example of a problematic law since it states that if a girl over the age of 15 has sex with her husband, it is not considered rape, but having sex with a married girl under the age of 15 is considered rape. The Indian government passed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2006, a revision to previous laws put in place against child marriage, which strengthened the punishment for ceremonies for child marriage and created Child Marriage Prohibition Officers to help push for the effectiveness of these laws. 

            Child marriage is a serious issue, not only in India, but all over the Global South. With the help of local activism and more serious laws put in place to prevent it, hopefully the battle against child marriage will be beat. 

https://feminisminindia.com/2017/06/12/child-marriage-reality-india/

-Reese Campbell

As we have discussed in our class, war is seen by the public as a masculine subject that creates a gender divide in the roles we play to support our country. In Nimo’s War, we see that some of the women’s roles consist of being a supportive army mother or a victim of sexually based war violence. Women are targeted in the middle of wars for rape, and gender persecution by the army itself. In the case of Kristen Beck, a transgender woman who formerly identified as a male Navy Seal soldier, we see the effects that military roles play on a person’s identity and how they are treated by the rest of the nation. Though Kristen Beck is skilled in the art of warfare and has received awards for her service as a man, she is criticized and disrespected as a woman. Part of the reason why Beck was treated so unfairly by the public is that we have this notion that women can’t be masculine in the way men are and that they have no place in the military. Her entire career as a Navy Seal is being devalued because she chose to express her femininity and come out as a woman. Not only was Kristin Beck treated differently by the public, she was also treated differently by her own friends and family. Though some are accepting, even those close to her were concerned with the fact that her identity as a soldier was the only part of her that was worth getting to know. Some believed that she had disgraced her community by revealing her true self. This sort of gender/sexual discrimination is quite commonplace in the military and even though the LGBTQ community is currently allowed to serve, they face prejudice and assault. This is another sense in which a family that is meant to support you refuses to accept that war affects everyone. Kristen Beck has become a true activist for the transgender community and challenges what war really means on a social level. That women are strong enough to defend our country and that patriotism does not need to be cloaked in toxic masculinity and sexual violence. She came out despite the negative reactions, such as Nimo worked in a private salon business despite it being discouraged by her government at the time where women were supposed to be wives or work for the government. Lady Valor is available on Netflix

Gender Biased Activism

When talking and reading about the Greenbelt movement in Kenya, I saw some ways in which this activism correlated with the activism coming from the students from the Parkland shooting. In the Greenbelt movement and the Parkland student’s group, there is a female figurehead that represents the movement, the figures being Wangari Maathai and Emma Gonzales. Because these activism groups are both being led by women, these groups are also facing opposition from a gendered perspective. Wangari was often called out for not being a submissive or “true” African woman because she spoke her opinions loudly and did not back down from government pressure. When Emma Gonzales speaks, she is faced with nasty comments about her appearance and what a normal teenage girl should look like. She is also harassed over her sexuality and has faced opposition from government officials. Another thing that correlates these two forms of activism is that they both deal with an issue that affects every gender and has a major impact on the environment, whether it be the social or physical environment they are in. Planting trees is not purely a feminist issue and neither is gun control, but both women are working to make sure that their homes are not destroyed and are willing to face gender and sexually based harassment in order to create better living conditions for everyone. Many people argue that Emma Gonzales is too young to take such a hard stance and argue that she knows nothing about real politics. For both these groups, the opposition uses the tactic of questioning their knowledge of what goes on in their country and other forms of discrimination to prevent themselves with being concerned about their surrounding climate. Wangari and Emma have both lived and experienced the atrocities that come with environmental destruction and gun violence and yet are questioned about their integrity. These two activist groups are prime examples of how activism and female leaders are subjected to gender bias. Proclaimed feminists are being attacked for fighting for gender equality because they show how women are strong and willing to stand up for themselves. The media likes to show women and children as the victims and we still buy into the notion that they need to be saved instead of working with women to stand up to injustice. Social progress is not something that should be gender specific in working towards. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2018/mar/24/emma-gonzalezs-powerful-march-for-our-lives-speech-in-full-video

Resistance at Standing Rock

In this post, I wanted to discuss resistance like we have been in past few classes. I found an interesting Ted Talk describing how indigenous people have suffered through generations of oppression and suffering. The woman speaking is named Tara Houska and is of Native American descent. She describes herself as a product of genocide and how hard it is to be herself in this world. Tara has gone to Washington D.C.  as a tribal attorney to represent Native Americans across the United States. She tried to lobby for better schools and hospitals for Native Americans, but she was told repeatedly that they cannot handle their own affairs.

Even today, Native Americans are not viewed as real people to the government. Tara repeats a quote throughout the video stating, “when you’re not viewed as real people, it is a lot easier to run over your rights.” Before this Ted Talk, I did not know Native Americans are not able to have basic government services provided to them. I was shocked that this topic has not been talked about on the news more frequently. I found it ironic that despite America being named the “land of the free,” Native Americans are still not given basic government rights. The issue of Native American rights came up recently during the Standing Rock protests.

Tara says when she went to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, she finally saw resistance happening. Especially when Barak Obama received the message that this was happening, the news spread, and people came from all over to protest. The problem with projects like the pipeline at Standing Rock is not only the environmental destruction. Tara goes on to say that when an influx of workers come in to a reservation, there is a high chance of sex-trafficking, rape, and the murder of Native women. The reality is that Native women in America do not have the same rights as other American women. When they get raped, they do not have the same protection under the supreme court and their case will likely get turned down 40% of the time.

This is why the resistance in Standing Rock was so important to Native Americans. They were finally saying enough is enough because their lives matter. Tara describes herself along with others as being resilient and who are teaching others how to reconnect with the earth. She wants society to remember where we come from because her culture still remembers. Lastly, she concludes by saying most important way we can help is to change the conversation surrounding Native American people. This is by educating our children of modern treaties and Native American people, and by asking our representatives if their budgets are fulfilling treaty obligations.

You can watch her Ted Talk here:
 https://www.ted.com/talks/tara_houska_the_standing_rock_resistance_and_our_fight_for_indigenous_rights?language=en#t-568341

Strength of Women in Wadjda

For my post, I wanted to discuss the strength in women in the movie we watched in class, Wadjda.
The women I am going to focus on are Wadjda, her mother, and her mother's friend. These three women at some point or another show the resistance against a male-dominated society and culture. They show examples of rising from defeat, looking out for themselves, and pushing toward their end goals.

First off, as a seemingly insignificant character, we see Wadjda's mother's friend get a new job at the hospital across the street. She says that the commute is easier, and the conditions of the job are just overall better. When Wadjda and her mother walk into the hospital near the end of the movie, we see how upset her mom becomes when she discovers her friend isn't wearing anything to cover her face in public. I view this as a type of strength in her because she can step away from the norms of the society and does as she pleases in a work environment that is good for her.

As for Wadjda's mom, we see strength throughout. Clearly, at the end of the movie she finds the strength to go against gender norms and allow Wadjda to own a bike, and then buys it for her. She also sticks up for herself against the way her driver treats her and talks to her, as well as her husband. Ultimately, when her husband leaves her, she finds strength in Wadjda to keep her moving forward and to do everything she can to make sure they are happy and not let it affect their everyday life.

Finally, Wadjda proves to be one of the strongest characters in the movie. She studies the Quran for a competition, just to earn money to get a bike. She makes her own bracelets and sells them to earn money as well. Her strength is shown through her will to reach her goal. She doesn't take no for an answer, finds a thrill in proving herself against men, and looks out for herself and her mother.

These characters represent a population of women who are battling an inner-struggle to overcome gender norms and better life for themselves. In a culture where they are given little voice or no voice at all, these three women find the strength to push through that barrier and create their own.

I decided to focus my post on the concept of resistance, specifically revolving around the idea of small but powerful forms of resistance. We could see this in the film, Wadjda, which is about a Muslim Saudi girl.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it incredibly inspiring. This film helped to reinforce the concept that we discussed a lot in class. Resistance can be simple acts that push against the societal boundaries that have been placed by the government and patriarchy in the third world. The first world has a much different view and definition of resistance, which includes protests, petitions, and social reform. But in Wadjda, we can see that her simply wearing different shoes and wanting to ride a bike is a form of resistance.

We can also see this in many of the readings we did, such as Playing with Fire. In this story, we can see knowledge production as a form of resistance. The family members and members of the villages were against the idea of them raising their voices and writing this book. In fact, some of the authors in the story wrote in secret to avoid persecution. They shared their stories of violence, abuse, addiction, and troubles with finding work. Another form of resistance was criticizing the NGOs that the girls worked for. Although working to give women more rights and freedoms, the writers of Playing with Fire wrote about the injustices and unfairness that they experienced and witnessed while working. They discussed this at the end of the book and faced criticism. So, the girls decided to write another book as a form of resistance.

Looking back to the film, the director, Haifaa Al Mansour, and the concept itself is a form of resistance. In an article that I read, they explained how the Saudi government will not show the movie in cinemas because they are banned, and Al Mansour is the first female film director in Saudi Arabia. Through the story, she hopes “it will inspire many girls in Saudi to become filmmakers," she said. "That makes me very proud.” Something as simple as a concept of a movie or filming in conservative neighborhoods is a form of resistance. She did not blatantly call out the problems and issues of patriarchy in Saudi Arabia, but she created a character who pushes the boundaries just enough to create the conversation and put the thought into other young girls minds. Resistance is powerful and comes in all forms.

You can find the article here: https://www.cnn.com/2012/05/25/world/meast/saudi-film-wadjda-mansour/index.html

Activism and Tradition

For this blog entry, I wanted to focus on the interplay between activism and tradition. In a western society, activism can oftentimes be seen as the defiance of tradition. There is a sense that the traditions, which have been reinforced for years, are systematically problematic and are in need of change, hence the need for activism. Throughout our readings, there has been an activist theme. From the Green Belt Movement to our in-class speakers, to watching the movie Wadjda, activism is a constant throughout. These different examples show activism but in different ways. For this blog, I want to focus on how activism and tradition can be intertwined, how a Ted Talk called Radical women, embracing tradition, by Kavita Ramdas, explains this and how we can recognize this in the movie Wadjda. 

This Ted Talk is extremely inspiring and discusses different women that Ramdas has met throughout her life who embrace tradition and incorporate it into her activism. She uses the example that Western societies oftentimes view the hijab as restricting women’s rights, when in fact, a devout Muslim friend of hers is extremely passionate about women’s rights and gender equality. Her friend uses her faith to propel herself into her activism. She explains that her friend does not believe that she has to give up her tradition in order to move society forward; that activism and tradition can go hand in hand. 

Throughout the Ted Talk, she recognizes her other friends in Croatia as well as Africa, noting that they all hold tightly onto their traditions while starting NGOs that are creating safer spaces for women that encourage learning and equality. These single stories, Ramdas believes, is what makes change in the world. That when you take a step back and look at the women making a change, that they don’t have to be challenging traditions that are important to them; they can embrace tradition and progression. 

This theme can be seen throughout the movie Wadjda. Throughout the film, you can see certain traditions that are still very important for women in their society. Some of these traditions do seem to be quite restricting, however, others are a part of these women’s identity, which can be used as a catalyst for change. For example, Wadjda does not challenge the tradition of coverings when out in the world, however, she can wear it while she rides her bike. It is not that she is completely denying the traditions that have shaped show she is but decides to alter the aspects of her life that she deems unequal.

Westerners have developed a mindset that emphasizes the need to defeat tradition in order to make real change. This is a general statement, and I want to emphasize is not true for all western feminists, or western activists, by any means. However, Ramdas challenges, what she dubs as a western way of viewing activism and encourages thinking about integrating aspects of tradition and community into struggles that we want to change. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/kavita_ramdas_radical_women_embracing_tradition#t-67672

Bicycles and Freedom

One idea I have noticed as a common theme through this class is freedom and resistance through mobility. Most recently, we saw it in the film Wadjda, which was about a young Saudi girl who eventually found her own form of freedom by riding her bike, even though it was shamed by her community, country, and religion. However, if we look back further we can see a similar idea in Playing with Fire. Many of the authors who worked for the NGO described the freedom they felt when they were able to get from village to village through the use of bikes. Bikes are common for children here in the United States and in many nations of the Global North, but in areas who have such strict restrictions on people, as well as products, this seemingly commonplace object becomes a luxury that has the power to inspire.

While reading through some news pieces this past weekend, I found an article about a former child captive of ISIS who has started a movement to provide refugee children with bicycles. "For the 14-year-old boy, the bicycle stands for freedom," the article describes of Emad Mishko Tamo. In 2014, he was separated from his mother and siblings after an attack by ISIS on their village. They were captured and imprisoned separately, but Emad's mother was eventually able to escape from her imprisonment with his siblings. She sought refuge in Canada, and assumed Emad had been killed. However, he was freed with others from the Yazidi culture in 2017, and he was relocated to Canada with his family soon after. Thanks to a local non-profit whose aim was to provide aid to Christian and Yazidi refugees, Emad was given a bike.

Emad wanted to use the generosity he had been shown to give back to other Yazidi refugee children living in Winnipeg, Canada. Eventually, thanks to the support of a generous donor and others, Emad was able to purchase nearly 100 bikes for other Yazidi refugee children, and he only wants to continue his effort.

While something as simple as a bike is often overlooked here in the United States, it can have profound effects on those who do not have similar resources. This idea of freedom through mobility is extremely interesting, as it is often not thought about the same way in many communities in the Global North. The article can be found here.

Victimization of Women in the Global South

Through Summer’s presentation within class, she noted how media constantly shows women as the victims of men’s violence. They focus on women being killed and then neglect other categories of victims, namely men and children. Further, she noted how the media doesn’t do many follow ups on these women’s stories, rather they just share these women as victims and forget about them after that. Further, she noted how the only attention women gain through the media is through their death and violence committed against them, and how there is not enough of a focus on their everyday needs, such as feminine hygiene products not being given out by NGO’s. In class, we discussed how women typically have an easier time being accepted into a host country due to the fact that they are not thought of as aggressors but as victims, while men on the other hand are thought of as more aggressive and tend to have a hard time being allowed into these host countries. Further, in class we discussed how women’s political work is typically undermined in the global south, and how countries in the global north group all women in the global south as helpless victims. Yet, there is activism within the global south, it just tends not to be covered in the media because it breaks this victim mentality that tends to be had of women in the global south. 

One of the most prominent feminist activists that I know of is Malala Yousafzai, who is a prominent Pakistani activist who fights for women’s educational rights. In this article, https://www.biography.com/people/malala-yousafzai-21362253, you can read about her story and political activism. While she was still a child, she openly campaigned for a women’s right to an education, which the Taliban violently disagreed with. While I think her contributions have been amazing towards women’s educational rights, which she was soon awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for, many media depictions of her tend to not focus on her activism and beliefs but rather paint her as a victim to her country. While Malala’s achievements are remarkable, especially considering she became an activist at such a young age, many don’t recognize her name for this. Rather, they know her as the girl who was shot by the Taliban, and that tends to be the focus in the media. While I think it’s awful that this violence was committed against her, I think it does connect in Summer’s presentation through the fact that even this woman who is educated and was fighting strongly against her countries policies was depicted as this. Malala later went on to write about her experiences in her best-selling novel, and now is attending oxford university studying politics so she can further her political career. The media seems to depict women in this light to gain sympathy from the readers, but it only contributes to this widely–held belief that women in the global south are incapable of standing up for themselves, and that they are merely victims. Rather, I feel that it is important to recognize women’s activism, and support it as a means of furthering it, instead of ignoring it.

Sources: 

Kettler, Sara. “Malala Yousafzai.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 9 Oct. 2018, www.biography.com/people/malala-yousafzai-21362253.