Chandra Mohanty's article should have been required reading for me a long time ago. It could have saved my sister a lot of ridicule. Mohanty offers an opportunity to understand how women, like me, so easily allow class to divide our common goal of equality. Mohanty notes how, even women of the same race and ethnicity, will allow their class to construct themselves as the norm. She states, "Middle-class urban African or Asian scholars produce scholarship on or about their rural or working class sisters, which assumes their own middle class cultures as the norm, and codifies working class histories and cultures as Other."
It is also important to note how women can incorporate patriarchial beliefs into their own belief system without even realizing it. For instance, Mohanty's point out how women "assume that woment are a coherent group with identical interests." One thing that comes to my mind is that fact that women in the United States believe that their lives are the dreams of all women. Many American women assume that a women living in other countries will have a better life if they come to America. This thought process is no different than a man who believes that a woman is better off being married because he can provide a better life for her than she can alone.
Mohanty's revelation on "objectification" was an eye opener for me. Before reading this article, I didn't realize that I have practiced objectification. My sister is a woman who loves to cook and care for her family. I have often critized her for what I have labeled "performing her wifely duties." According to Mohanty, I am labeling my sister as "traditional" and myself and "modern." My labeling was to establish that I have the freedom to do as i please and she doesn't. I actually labelled her choice as oppressive. Therefore,I have the better life. Mohanty made me realize that my sister cooking and caring for her family is her choice and not her obligation. This article opened my eyes to my own discursive feminist view.
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7 comments:
This is very true. It is important to not excercise Orientalism. As Westerners this is something that is often done. I'd Like to think that we do it unknowingly. The land of the great--powerful and rich. There is a certain inclination or belief that we are better than other countries, especially Third World Countries. We have such thought. However, we can not overcome our shared oppression (although it is experienced in different ways) The common goal is equality with men, so why would we want to continue to be in competition with other women who are fighting for just rights too?
Yes. The Western world has always had a mentality that we are "better" than other countries, specifically Third World countries. It is no wonder that other countries look down on us often. This is where the inequality comes in, as a people in the western culture we are brainwashed to think this not to mention other issues such as the big "gender" issue. Women should be treated as fairly and equally as men and vice versa of course there are just many obstacles to overcome.
Yes !!! I totally agree with your Blog. I feel that if we as people can just pick up a book and read about other's history we might just get some where. This notion of Westernization and Western Feminist was all new to me. If we just take the time out to realize that there are so many different types of women who are doing this not because of their race or their culture but because it was the choice that they wanted to make.
One of the things that I learned from studying abroad is that not everyone is like they are on television, or depicted by the media. Also not everyone lives like we do in this country. I know that these two observations seem very obvious but many Americans cannot see beyond their own back yard and sadly some don't want to. Many of us feel that because we are big bad Americans other ethnicities and nationalities should assimilate and take on our cultures, speak our languages and act as we do. The world would be such a better place if we all tried to educate our selves about other people, places and things!
Your blog is so true. It is unfortunate how we break each other down within our own race because of class differences. Many times in the black community, we judge people based on how expensive their clothes are, how flashy their car appears, or even the college they went to when we all know how much of an expense college is. All these gratify the employment of money in our society.
I can easily relate to the comment you made about your comments about your sister's job, and how it is traditional. I witness that in my family a lot. My family members who are teachers don't receive as much credit as the lawyers and accountants. Why is this?
I feel that most of our "eyes are shut," and wish more people were required to take classes like fem theory. This class has not only opened me up to different ways of thinking, but different types of feminism. It is very rare that we talk about the oppressions outside of our own society, let alone within our own communities. It took forever for people to stand up against rap videos, and now we want to talk about international interlinking oppressions, this is crazy. How hopeful can we be that we can get men, and women, within our own societies to listen, let alone around the world. I know that sounds negative, but I feel that people are usually self-involved, and don't tend to step outside of their "comfort level."
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