Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan narrowly construct Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, moving them away from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions, and informal markets) and toward a distinct path of Western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women’s public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights, and neoliberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women’s rights agenda is bound to the few contested, hypermilitarized, and politically fragile pockets of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and that have limited accessibility for most women. The pull to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed against an Orientalist framing of a stiflingly traditional society from which Afghan women are expected to flee simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible within it. This article argues that countless rural and urban women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to enter the liberal public and may not even have the choice or desire to retreat from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture, and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women’s lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad-based, inclusive, or flexible approach to women’s rights and gender relations.
American journal of Islam and society, Oct 1, 2002
This article explores the potential for Muslim women's political engagement in the internati... more This article explores the potential for Muslim women's political engagement in the international women's movement. irrespective of the barriers that exist to deny and undermine the agency of Muslim women in the movement, this article calls for a more sustained involvement of Muslim women in global feminist thought and praxis. By articulating a faith-centered approach to social justice, Muslim women have important contributions to make in order to push forward a collective agenda against all forms of violence and oppressions affecting women, in both Muslim and non-Muslim societies. This article suggests that Muslim women implement a strategic-integrative approach to our involvement based on creating our own independent and integrated analyses and political frames, and engaging in solidarity and alliance-building with women across our diversity and difference based on mutually defined goals ...
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 2020
Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan narrowly construct Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, moving them away from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions, and informal markets) and toward a distinct path of Western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women’s public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights, and neoliberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women’s rights agenda is bound to the few contested, hypermilitarized, and politically fragile pockets of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and that have limited accessibility for most women. The pull to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed against an Orientalist framing of a stiflingly traditional society from which Afghan women are expected to flee simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible within it. This article argues that countless rural and urban women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to enter the liberal public and may not even have the choice or desire to retreat from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture, and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women’s lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad-based, inclusive, or flexible approach to women’s rights and gender relations.
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (Forthcoming), 2019
Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of post-conflict gender programming in Afghanista... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of post-conflict gender programming in Afghanistan construct Afghan women's rights and freedoms " away " from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions and informal markets) onto a distinct path of western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women's public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights and neo-liberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women's rights agenda is bound to the few, contested and hyper-militarized and politically fragile 'pockets' of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and have limited accessibility for most women. The 'pull' to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed to an orientalist framing of a stifling traditional society wherein Afghan women are expected to flee, simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible. This article argues that countless rural and urban-based women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to " enter " the liberal public, and they may also not even have the choice or preference to " retreat " from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women's lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad based, inclusive and more flexible approach to women's rights and gender relations.
Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan narrowly construct Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, moving them away from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions, and informal markets) and toward a distinct path of Western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women’s public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights, and neoliberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women’s rights agenda is bound to the few contested, hypermilitarized, and politically fragile pockets of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and that have limited accessibility for most women. The pull to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed against an Orientalist framing of a stiflingly traditional society from which Afghan women are expected to flee simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible within it. This article argues that countless rural and urban women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to enter the liberal public and may not even have the choice or desire to retreat from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture, and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women’s lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad-based, inclusive, or flexible approach to women’s rights and gender relations.
American journal of Islam and society, Oct 1, 2002
This article explores the potential for Muslim women's political engagement in the internati... more This article explores the potential for Muslim women's political engagement in the international women's movement. irrespective of the barriers that exist to deny and undermine the agency of Muslim women in the movement, this article calls for a more sustained involvement of Muslim women in global feminist thought and praxis. By articulating a faith-centered approach to social justice, Muslim women have important contributions to make in order to push forward a collective agenda against all forms of violence and oppressions affecting women, in both Muslim and non-Muslim societies. This article suggests that Muslim women implement a strategic-integrative approach to our involvement based on creating our own independent and integrated analyses and political frames, and engaging in solidarity and alliance-building with women across our diversity and difference based on mutually defined goals ...
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 2020
Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan narrowly construct Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, moving them away from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions, and informal markets) and toward a distinct path of Western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women’s public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights, and neoliberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women’s rights agenda is bound to the few contested, hypermilitarized, and politically fragile pockets of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and that have limited accessibility for most women. The pull to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed against an Orientalist framing of a stiflingly traditional society from which Afghan women are expected to flee simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible within it. This article argues that countless rural and urban women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to enter the liberal public and may not even have the choice or desire to retreat from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture, and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women’s lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad-based, inclusive, or flexible approach to women’s rights and gender relations.
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (Forthcoming), 2019
Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of post-conflict gender programming in Afghanista... more Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of post-conflict gender programming in Afghanistan construct Afghan women's rights and freedoms " away " from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions and informal markets) onto a distinct path of western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women's public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights and neo-liberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women's rights agenda is bound to the few, contested and hyper-militarized and politically fragile 'pockets' of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and have limited accessibility for most women. The 'pull' to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed to an orientalist framing of a stifling traditional society wherein Afghan women are expected to flee, simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible. This article argues that countless rural and urban-based women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to " enter " the liberal public, and they may also not even have the choice or preference to " retreat " from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women's lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad based, inclusive and more flexible approach to women's rights and gender relations.
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