Muslim Women and Human Rights

[samvara]

Khadija Khaja is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Indiana University. She was born in Africa and also raised in Canada. Her specific research and practice interests include cultural traditional pracices of female circumcision; multicultural research; Muslim cultural competency in counselling; and Muslim Human Rights. She gave a very human and interesting talk on some of the issues facing Muslim women in Canada and America.

She talked about stereotypes associated with wearing hijab and about how the current political climate makes for a great deal of nervous curiosity and fear. It brought us back to that old argument about how much you should be expected to assimilate - other people saying they felt judged in the presence of women in traditional garb / can't possibly be Americans if they're in traditional dress and so on.

I think learning the language should be compulsory because not being able to communicate is incredibly disempowering. Clothes I'm less fussed by although I'm aware being Australian is a factor in this attitude as I'm not from a country that mixes religion and politics to quite the same extent.

Khadija spoke about her culture being one with a strong interest in physical and spiritual health but not so much about mental health. She said this made talking about depression, suicide, anorexia and forms of abuse very difficult. She also said that in an effort to reassure non-Muslims that Muslim people are peace-loving and not insane there is a bias towards not speaking about very real problems. Ouch.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be thinking 'please let it not be a Muslim' every time you hear of an act of violence.

We meandered back and forth over female circumcision as a topic. I gather that 'genital mutilation' isn't an acceptable term at all as it implies 'broken / not right / not a real woman / victim' and this can be deeply patronising and offensive.

This was a pretty emotional talk at times and I was very impressed at the way Khadija communicated so clearly and so gently. She told stories about her students, about women she has known and about the achievements of Muslim women in the area of Human Rights and my overwhelming impression was one of community and connection.

Out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. - Rumi

Comments

[mynxii.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the summary - it wounds absolutely awesome.

Can we talk about it more? Or rather, will you talk about it more and can I listen?

[black-samvara.livejournal.com]

[laughs]

maharetr and I both enjoyed it - we can talk more at dinner maybe?

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the report. I saw that one on the list and would've loved to attend, but the time didn't suit. Sounds *very* interesting.

[black-samvara.livejournal.com]

Pleasure, it made me realise I know very little about Muslims.

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued by the statement that 'genital mutilation' is a bad term to use for female circumcision. But then, I use it as a descriptor for male circumcision as well, because of the particularly strong views I have.

(I can't believe that there are people who will argue vehemently against one, but use exactly the same arguments as their opponents to justify the other. sorry. soapbox)

[black-samvara.livejournal.com]

[patpat]

Having had someone apply the descriptor 'damaged' and then utterly ignore my clearly stated preferences, I can understand why being labelled that way would offend.

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

I think that what is happening is that people are putting different values on the meaning of 'mutilation'. In the strictest definition, any circumcision is mutilation, as is getting your ears pierced - and I was thinking about it like that. But I can see that the word has become politicised, and means a lot more than just that. Shall go back and read the book I have on it, have another thought or two.