egyptian thread

egyptian thread: 2nd thread A Woman´s place

2008-10-11T02:52:00.000-07:00

egyptian thread: 2nd thread A Woman´s place http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxY9rZwNGU&feature=related

egyptian thread: first thread

2008-10-10T03:54:00.000-07:00

egyptian thread: first thread es.youtube.com/watch?v=Iou7pMWEiTA

Third thread -THE IMAGE (itself), the image of oneself

2008-10-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

After several month of reading, writing, rewriting, collecting, recording, sewing, printing, etc. I have just realised that I haven’t been able to produce a single image for the upcoming show. From the very first beginning of the project I wanted to talk about the IMAGE we produce of other and the IMAGE we project of ourselves and, what was an initial intuition became clearer through time passing by ( getting responses to my proposed readings and writings, building up –little by little- the blog and trying to produce the installation: I am now at the point that the idea of THE IMAGE has become a negative concept being something that has to be located on the opposite site of were we may find real thing(s). THE IMAGE is always reductive, a reversed and fragmented part of something, which has a wider and extended multiple reality that refuses to be captured within the frame. THE IMAGE always is a mirror and in its pretension to present reality it can only aspire to show the real conditions that are (secretly) enclosed in the gaze of whom is looking at the subject or the object, of whom is looking what is outside of her or himself. Therefore THE IMAGE always is distant and in its distance it functions as a border that defines what is I and what is the OTHER(S). I have been thinking for a while if there was such as an image of myself. I can hardly think of anything that would describe/visualize me that does not come from an outer reflections on my person. What I mean is that if I tried to give an image of myself I would have to use stereotyped images and the reflected image that comes from how I am perceived by others. This non precise image of myself which I would try to produce, fades along as soon as I try to inscribe me into the wider context of any kind of group: me as a westerner, me as a woman, me as a mother, me as a foreigner, me as lecturer, me as an artist, …and, if I precede making variations such as me as a foreign mother, me as a western woman, me as an foreign artist mother it becomes more and more impossible to use an original, not beaten concept…because there are and there have been always pre-existing images that are already in the mind of the receptor. But the, do I (and do you) respond, correspond to that image of myself (yourself)? Do I, can I and do I want to identify with such an image? And, if the answer is NO, what does this image then stand for? For what do we produce and what for are we using them? Is it true that, as Fatema Mernissi wrote, the western men (obviously a stereotype) does use the image to control the woman (obviously another stereotype), while eastern men use space to dominate women, meaning by extends that we in our culture need the image to control anything that is outside of ourselves as the only way of being able to establish for sure who we are? And, would that mean that the western world has won the final battle ( after colonialism, after World War II) gaining control over any society whose identity had not been based on visuality by introducing the image as the Trojan Horse in any private space around the world? Or, does it mean, on the contrary that the western world as lost the final control over the rest of the world giving the image to others who now may use the mirror to produce a reflected and reversed view of this part of the world. Would that mean that we are now all the same- men and women, westerners and easterners, etc? Or, does it just mean that now everyone has got the same tools to reduce, manipulate or fragment the reality that takes part outside of the frame? And, if so, which are the tools that are left to establish borders and define the limits of property, private and public space, to exclude or include one or the other into whatsoever groups. Or would it mean that we do not have or do not need borders anymore, because the image, space and time have finally become one and the same thing.... Left without the image I’ll wait for your reflections…

2nd thread A Woman´s place

2008-09-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

A Woman´s Place Here again a fragment I have send to some of the contributers and correspondents as part of their personal thread.

"In May 2005, I listened attentively to the questions of the 30 journalists my Spanish publisher scheduled in Madrid to promote the translation of my book "Les Sindbads Morocains". From their questions, which all dealt with the veil and terrorism, it was clear that they had no clue about the strategic issue mobilizing the Arab World : al-fitna raqmiya (digital chaos), the destruction of space frontiers by the new Information Technologies (IT). The key problem giving anxiety fits to elites and masses, to heads of states and street-vendors, to men and women in the Arab world today is the digital chaos induced by IT such as the internet and the satellite which has destroyed the hudud, the space frontier which divided the universe into a sheltered private arena where women and children were supposed to be protected, and a public one where adult males exercised their presumed problem-solving authority. 1. Digital Chaos: It is no longer "to be or not to be" but "to navigate or not to navigate" (...) It is this kind of mind-blowing civilizational shift happening in the Arab world where men are finally embarking on becoming skilled digital nomads instead of crying about the frontiers' collapse and dreaming of harems for their wives - that I tried to share with the Spanish journalists obsessed by the veil and terrorism during my Madrid encounter in May 2005. Although the Spanish city of Gibraltar is just 13 km away from the Moroccan port of Tangiers, I realized that Spaniards had no idea about the revolution the information technologies have produced in our part of the world. And one reason for that is the fact that in Madrid's plush hotel which advertised itself as satellite-connected, I could not connect to my favorite Al-Jazeera or to any one of the 200 pan-Arab satellite channels beaming now in the Mediterranean. (...) At one point, I tried to illustrate this change by sharing with them the extraordinary emergence of women I saw in the Arab Gulf during a visit to Bahrain in March 2005. I tried to describe to them Mai Al-Khalifa, a historian who in less than a decade, has created modern spaces such as museums and cultural centers that encourage dialogues between the sexes and the generations. I tried to explain that focusing on this unexpected emergence of women in the oil-rich Arab Gulf is more significant an indicator than the veils of the Moslem migrant community, but the Spanish journalists were trapped in their own veil and terror. (...)" Fatema Mernissi: Digital Scheherazade, The Rise of Women as Key Players in the Arab Gulf Communication Strategies, Excerpts from the longer English manuscript, Rabat, September 2005 In www.mernissi.net/books/articles/digital_scheherazade.

I´d like to pick up this quotation to open up further ways of discussing the views, visions and visuality of women in relation to place and space. I my opinion the concepts of hudud (space frontier which divided the universe into private/female and public/masculinespace) and al-fitna raqmiya (digital chaos-the destruction of space frontiers by the new Information Technologies) are interesting lenses to focus on a theme with highlightens (and at the same times exceeds) the visuality of eastern women... Further, I am not so sure that, as Mernissi suggested, western women are controlled (only) by image while eastern women are manipulated by space. For me it looks pretty much like there is not such an easy distinction, even though women´s spaces in the occidental world are very much defined by their educational backround, class and the specific cultural-religious and social conditions of the specific region they live in. And, after all it is not for long that women 'here' have or (if they do at all) have had access to 'every' place they´d wanted to. Have a look at these Harry Enfield movies: ...and the comments they rise:

It is the nature of Satire to emulate the thing it is parodying and attacking. This is IMHO one of the all time classic British TV comedy sketches. The butt of the joke here is not women; the audience you hear are laughing at the absurdity of the sexism displayed by the men.

deirdrestrachan (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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Hi girls, just checked the 'prophets' log and surprise, surprise He has posted two videos himself called "OWN A RETARD".... yeah women r fair game and we all have 'limited' freedom of speech... BUT LAUGHIN AT SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN??? Shame on you... I wud call you a cu*t but u aint good enough ... Stick wiv ur own shameful sex x x x PS I ain't no lesbian, I like willies!! Just can't stand the cu*t they come wiv :)

deirdrestrachan (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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ABCSDLG (hace 6 días) Mostrar Ocultar

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Are you a lesbian? Just wanted to know.

deirdrestrachan (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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'Are there any women here?????????' For what it is worth, teaching in England was the refuge of woman who did not want to prostitute themselves... It was appropriated by men who came up with Educations Acts '44 and '88 and there after turn it into a business. EDUCATION AND PROSTITUTION walk hand in hand now like 'The Beast and the Whore' I intellectually defer to the history of teachin by men personified by ARISTOTLE but then philosophers r without gender.Howeva,first n best teacher my MUM!

LostProphet1776 (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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The reason that women are so unhappy is that they try to emulate men by engaging in such professions such as law, medicine, teaching and engineering. Women become frustrated at their own inadequacy and inability to do jobs that are traditionally reserved for men. Women become further frustrated when they are allowed to vote, or drive cars. They would be far happier if forced to engage in traditional women's work, such as brining up children, or gardening. Yes.

PleasureGirl1990 (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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Yes, yes; quite so...

vittyuop (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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your fucked up

moondog999xx (hace 1 semana) Mostrar Ocultar

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well said!

M´s first response to al-fitna raqmiya...translation of an articel first published in Polish into Spanish ... “Oprah Winfrey egipcia” no es ni una pía musulmana, ni una americana políticamente correcta. Temas de sus programas abarcan todo lo que suele aparecer en las portadas de adoquines: la prostitución, el incesto, la traición. En una de las últimas entrevistas subrayó que sus programas abrieron el primer foro verdaderamente democrático en la historia de los medios de comunicación egipcios. Sarhan estudiaba en la facultad de las artes dramaticales en Louisville, Kentucky. En los Estados Unidos era periodista de radio y trabajaba en la Televisión Árabe americana. En Londres redactaba la revista árabe Sayidaty. A la vuelta a Egipto, como una de los jefes del canal Dream, Sarhan tenía una idea de promover un nuevo talk-show. Buscaba a una presentadora valiente, sensacionalista, que no temiera temas difíciles, pero -como nadie cumplía sus expectativas- se promovió a si misma. Afirma que si tomaba algo por modelo, eso serían los talk-shows americanos: Jerry Springer, Late Night de Conan OBrien y Late Showde David Letterman -llenas de chistes mezclas del mundo de los célebres y conversaciones sobre problemas sociales. En uno de los programas Sarhan preguntó a un jeque egipcio si es verdad que Mahoma aconsejó a una mujer que diera el pecho a su hijo adoptado para imposibilitar la relación sexual con su hijastro. ¿Qué tengo que hacer? -preguntó Hala- ¿Dar el pecho al cocinero, al conductor, al peluquero, para evitar relaciones sexuales con ellos?. Sí, es una buena solución- contestó el jeque. ¿Cómo los musulmanes pueden conservar los valores familiares, escuchando a una mujer tan perversa? - escribían periodistas egipcios. Discutimos los problemas verdaderos: el sexo, la religión, la política. Antes de mi programa, existía en este país una especie de talk-show, pero yo soy la primera en mostrar la verdad, se defendía Hala. La opinión pública afirmó que Sarhan exageró haciendo una entrevista con las prostitutas de Cairo. Contaron que ganaban 1,5 mil de dólares por mes, y a cambio del servicio sexual recibían la protección de la policía. Cuando -a pesar de que sus caras estaban obscurecidas- fueron reconocidas por sus conocidos, se presentaron en una cadena competitiva, para contar sobre la engañosa manipuladora Sarhan que les pagó por las confesiones. Sarhan se hizo entonces la protagonista de textos con los siguientes títulos: El escándalo de Sarhan, Las prostitutas falsificadas, Todo por el dinero. Periodistas egipcios y autores de blogs comentaban: Corrompe a los niños, pronunciado himnos alabadores en honor de la masturbación, ¡Cortar la lengua de Hala Sarhan!. Se la procesó por violar la seguridad pública y promover una postura disoluta. Sarhan dejó Egipto en avión privado de un millonario árabe al Walida bin Talala y se fue a Londres. En una entrevista para el diario inglés Guardian llamó a sus acusadores canallas y mentirosos. Sí, queremos destruir a Sarhan - escribían autores de blogs árabes. Dirigieron una carta al propietario de la televisión Rotan, en la cual exigieron la baja de la arrogante seguidora de las activistas feministas, como la llamaron. Para Sarhan estas voces son una prueba de la hipocresía de la sociedad egipcia. Dijó que la censura más aflictiva en este país no la fijan los políticos. No temo que me juzga alguien del gobierno. De verdad la boca me puede cerrar solamente el público abnegado al falso sistema de valores.

Personal threads -further responses

2008-09-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

P´s thread

No puedo evitar sentir cierto recelo al ver cómo desde la prensa se habla por otras mujeres. No es sólo el hecho de que se inicie un debate entorno a velo sí / velo no, sino el propio echo de que se pretenda llegar a una única postura y defenderla como “la correcta”. Desde nuestra “mirada occidental” parece que sólo estamos preparadas para hacer la lectura del velo como un deber externo que se impone a la mujer, y ante el cual queremos salir al rescate y ayudarlas a reclamar sus derechos… y sin embargo, desde mi opinión personal, creo que tendría más sentido reclamar el derecho de las mujeres a decidir libremente usar o no el velo, sin ser por ello objeto de debate en los medios de comunicación; sobre todo después de la entrada en vigor en Francia, hace ya unos años, de una ley que impedía el uso de símbolos religiosos ostentosos, en lugares públicos, y por lo tanto, el uso del velo. El velo se ha convertido en un símbolo de sumisión de la mujer; pero no creo que el problema sea el velo en sí, sino el protagonismo que le hemos dado en los medios de comunicación. La mayoría de estos debates sobre el velo conllevan una generalización de todas las mujeres musulmanas, y olvidan la variedad de países, contextos y situaciones diferentes en los que podemos encontrar a mujeres musulmanas. Desde mi opinión, considero que cualquier búsqueda de una reflexión que pretenda englobar a un colectivo tan amplio, tiene poca consideración con la mujer como ser individual, con agencia para actuar y tomar sus propias decisiones. Por otro lado, desde la prensa occidental, parece que las mujeres árabes o musulmanas se vuelven protagonistas en los medios de comunicación, casi exclusivamente cuando se trata de hablar del velo. Consciente de mi profundo y particular desconocimiento del mundo árabe, hablaré desde mi experiencia concreta. Cuando hace dos veranos daba clases de español en la ciudad de Tánger, en Marruecos, me encontraba con alumnas que hacían usos muy diferentes del velo y de las ropas tradicionales. Incluso tenía dos hermanas, que mientras una llevaba siempre el velo y ropas más “tradicionales” y la otra solía llevar vaqueros y el pelo sin cubrir. Como hermanas que son, ambas vivían un mismo contexto social y familiar, y por tanto, su relación con el velo y las ropas, era una elección personal que estaba ligada a su vínculo con la religión. En una reflexión escrita por un amigo antropólogo, David Berna, tras un trabajo de campo sobre la inmigración magrebí en España, hablaba precisamente de la variedad de significados diferentes que puede tener el uso del velo. ¿Pero no hay un solo velo a hay muchos velos?, ¿hay una mujer magrebí o incluso musulmana o hay muchas?. La respuesta es contundente. Los intentos de homogeneizar serían estúpidos. Entre las mujeres que hay en España y concretamente entre las que yo ha conocido en mi trabajo de campo en Parque Ansaldo en Alicante, había mujeres argelinas y marroquíes, procedentes de zonas rurales y de las ciudades, que eran licenciadas y que no sabían leer, islamistas fervorosas, musulmanas de tradición pero no de práctica o tan musulmanas en la práctica como yo, y así una larga lista de mujeres. El velo puede suponer como en el caso de Fátima mujer argelina una lucha activa por sus creencias religiosas musulmanas. Hablaríamos de un velo militante. En la persona de Mariam hablaríamos de una mujer rural que cuando se caso comenzó a usar el velo como todas las mujeres de su pueblo, y para la que no es ningún problema llevarlo o no, pero que prefiere llevarlo por pudor. Hablaríamos de un Velo tradicional. Sinheb, solo lleva velo cuando regresa a Argelia a ver a su familia, en España no lo lleva por que no quiere y su marido Mohamen no le dice nada al respecto. Hablaríamos de un Velo Ambiguo o respetuoso con la tradición. Fátima lleva velo en la calle, pues en su barrio viven muchos jóvenes magrebíes y se siente más protegida con el, y no le supone un problema llevarlo, sino una ventaja... En contraposición con esa visitón mediática que tiende a unificar el velo como símbolo de sumisión, destaco de las reflexiones de David, ese uso del velo voluntario, activo y con un sentido de resistencia: La presión occientalizante es tan fuerte en sus países como en los nuestros, que acaba haciendo más rígida la militancia resistente, agarrando el simbólico velo como bandera de una lucha de resistencia. Pero por encima de todas estas reflexiones sobre la variedad de sentidos diferentes que puede tener el velo, creo que se nos escapa lo más importante, y es que dar tanto protagonismo al velo, no facilita nada las cosas a las mujeres que por una u otra razón deciden cubrir su cabeza con un pañuelo. Desde esta última reflexión, me parece muy acertada la pregunta que plantea Anja, ¿soy yo libre?... Creo que es mucho más acertado y coherente hablar sobre/desde nuestros propios contextos culturales y sociales. Y a pesar de ésta última reflexión, debo disculparme, pues, en estas primeras postales, yo también me he dejado atrapar por el velo y lo he convertido en protagonista. P. (28.09.2008, Angola) N´s thread T´s thread (first response) Hola Anja Por fin te envío mi colaboración para tu proyecto Blinddates Todo el material visual te lo he enviado esta mañana por correo. No me daba tiempo a incluir estas líneas si quería que saliera hoy. Al final se ha convertido en 4 diálogos visuales con imágenes de postales antiguas de mujeres orientales. DIÁLOGO 1: “El harem y el sueño de la mujer alada visto desde occidente” El primer diálogo surge a partir de algunas imágenes encontradas en la prensa de este verano y la asociación libre con varios de los textos que me enviaste de Fatema Mernissi y el imaginario de las antiguas escenas de harem de los pintores y fotógrafos occidentales del XIX. La mujer alada desnuda claramente supone una visión occidental de la idea de libertad. Consciente de que suponía un elemento conflictivo la mantuve como alter ego de la anciana oriental que cuestiona y sale del círculo cerrado de las convenciones. DIÁLOGO 2: “Miradas de ida y vuelta. Oriente/Occidente” DIÁLOGO 3: “Tipo mujer oriental” DIÁLOGO 4: “Tipo mujer oriental” Han surgido tras mi viaje a París. Una selección de fotos de mis encuentros durante los paseos por la ciudad: el antiguo barrio donde viví hace 20 años a dos manzanas del barrio árabe de Barbés, la escuela de Bellas Artes y algunos lugares turísticos. A las postales que me enviaste he añadido algunas compradas en puestos de postales antiguas en París y una postal de una acuarela de Delacroix. Los diálogos han ido surgiendo entre todo este material como un juego de asociaciones visuales y experiencias vividas estos días. En el envío por correo te adjunto una sugerencia de montaje, ya que el sentido fundamental es el diálogo entre las imágenes. Espero no complicarte demasiado el montaje. Te adjunto aquí también la sugerencia de montaje para que vayas haciéndote una idea de lo que te envío. Besos T

Personal threads - further responses

2008-09-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

H´s thread

...i also work for a national photography archive project (in additionato everything else i am doing) and found the below image on a website recently. Please follow the link and look at the image very closely. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised!! It fits (and contradicts)with your travel journal readings in a very strange and funny way. *http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/mideast/photo/CairoStreet.html* *G. Lekegian, ca. 1885. Negative inscribed "Rue Bab-el-Vazir. No. 385." *Albumen. Mounted. 11 x 8.5 inches. Acquisition number 173-85. <http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/mideast/photo/CairoStreet.html> H. (22.09.2008, Egypt)

Personal threads

2008-09-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

T´s thread En mayo presenté en Madrid la edición española de mi libro “Les Sindbads Marocains” ante un círculo de 30 periodistas españoles. Las preguntas que me hicieron se referían todas en conjunto a los temas del velo y del terrorismo. De lo que en la actualidad representa la pregunta más importante en el mundo árabe no parecían tener la menor idea: de al-fitna raqmiya, del caos digital. El problema central que ocupa actualmente tanto a las elites como a las masas, a dirigentes como a vendedores ambulantes, a a hombre como a mujeres del mundo árabe, es la producción del caos digital por medio de las tecnologías de la información y por internet en particular. Porque destruye el hudud, la frontera dada por dios que divide el universo en la esfera segura y privada que garantiza a mujeres y niños protección, y el espacio público en el cual los hombres mayores desarrollan supuestamente su poder con ánimos de resolver los problemas. Últimamente incluso los imanes recomiendan que no sigamos pensando en la defensa del hudud, sino que debamos centrarnos en la creación de una cultura ética del nomadismo, en la cual se generará el orden a partir de la responsabilidad personal. Fatema Mernissi, Von arabischen Frauen die Häfen bauen. Alte Navigationskünste als Orientierungshilfe im digitalen Chaos, Le Monde diplomatique, 16/11/2005 8Original in english. My translation) “Cuando una mujer decide usar sus alas, se enfrenta a grandes riesgos.” No solo estaba convencida de que las mujeres tenían alas, sino también que dolía no usarlas. Yo tenía trece años cuando murió. Se supone que debía haber llorado, pero no lo hice. “La mejor manera de recordar a tu abuela –me dijo en el lecho de su muerte- es que mantengas la tradición de contar mi fábula preferida de Sherezade, la de La mujer del vestido de plumas’. “Me aprendí aquella fábula de memoria. 'el mensaje principal es que todas las mujeres deberían vivir su vida como si fueran nómadas. Deben mantenerse alerta y estar siempre listas para marcharse, incluso cuando son amadas. Fatema Mernissi, El Harén en Occidente, Espasa Calpe, Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), 2000.p.14. En las miniatura, igual que en la literatura, los hombre musulmanes representaban una mujer tremendamente activa, mientras Matisse, Ingre y Picasso mostraban siempre mujeres desnudas y pasivas. Los pintores musulmanes imaginan a las mujeres del harén cabalgando a gran velocidad, armadas con arcos y flechas y ataviadas con ropajes recargados. En las miniaturas musulmanas se muestra a la mujer como una compañera sexual evidentemente imposible de someter. Llegué a la conclusión de que los occidentales tenían razones para sonreír cuando evocaban su harén. ¿Qué idea tan extraordinaria, esta de encerrar a unas mujeres para disfrutar con ellas! Mientras los hombres musulmanes se sienten inseguros dentro del harén, ya sea auténtico (como los harenes imperiales, descritos en las crónicas históricas) o imaginados (miniaturas, leyendas, poesía), los occidentales se describen a sí mismos como héroes confiados sin miedo a la mujer. En definitiva, la dimensión trágica tan presente en los harenes musulmanes (el miedo a la mujer, la inseguridad masculina) parecía no existir en el harén occidental. Fatema Mernissi, El Harén en Occidente, Espasa Calpe, Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), 2000, pp.28,29 “Viajar es la mejor manera de aprender y de hacerte más fuerte”, me dijo un día mi abuela Yasmina, que era analfabeta y había vivido en el seno de un harén, el hogar tradicional en el que las mujeres tenían prohibido franquear las puertas, cerradas a cal y canto. “Cuando conozcas a un extranjero, debes poner toda tu atención para tratar de entenderle. Cuanto mejor entiendas a un extranjero y mejor te conozcas a ti misma, te conocerás más y serás más fuerte.” Para Yasmina el harén fue una prisión, un mundo en el que se les negaba a las mujeres el derecho a salir. Para ella viajar y tener la oportunidad de cruzar fronteras era algo así como un privilegio sagrado, la mejor ocasión para dejar de sentirse débil y vulnerable. Fatema Mernissi, El Harén en Occidente, Espasa Calpe, Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), 2000, p.11. H´s thread When someone says to us that´s enough education it discourages us and pushes us backwards. We are still new at educating our daughters. While there is no fear now of competing with men because we are still in the first stage of education and our oriental habits still do not allow us to pursue much study, men can rest assured in their jobs. As long as they see seats in the shool of law, engineering, medicine, and at university unoccupied by us, men can relax because what they fear is distant. If one of us shows eagerness to complete her education in one of these schools I am sure she will not be given a job. Malak Hifni Nasif, know by the pseudonym Bahithat al Badiya (seeker in the desert) ,1886-1918, Cairo, Egypt: “Bad Deeds of Men: Injustice, 1909” in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999, p.231. For the nineteenth-century diarist, the incipient fears associated with entering the space of the harem, coupled with the potentially dislocating experience of travel to a foreign country, provided the conditions by which the British woman was confronted with an experience of radical alterity. The feared loss of control was often encapslated in a description of an unlocatable gaze in the harem, indicating that entry to the harem could be a profoundly dislocating experience, one of being out of place. This phenomenon can be explored in reference to the Lacanian gaze. Rather than the harem being a managable space that confirmed the subject, this experience threatened its destabilization. A key aspect of this experience was the notion of a power vested elsewhere, its precise source unlocatable and its manifestation nuclear, which is aking to Lacan´s concept of the gaze.The Lacanian double dihedron schema, which diagrams the relation between the eye and the gaze, challenges the perspectival system of vision that is premised upon the illusion of an alignment between the two and is aplicable to the harem diary scenario. Lacan´s model demonstrates the radical rupture of the eye by the gaze. Constituting the subject via the opaque screen, the gaze is both radically exterior and simultaneously its internal blind spot. […] Mary Roberts, Intimate Outsiders, Tha Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2007, p. 84. […] Men claim they have suprerior intelligence saying there have been more men of genius than women. They forget that only when people use their gifts do they develop. That is why poor men who have spent their lives as cooks or tailors have not excelled in the arts or sciences. How can we expect, therefore, to find women whose energies we have restricted to taking care of their homes and whose knowledge is confined to this sphere excelling as geniuses? Nabawiya Musa (1890-1951), Zigazig, Eastern Delta, Egypt. “The Difference between Men and Women and Their Capacities for Work (1920)”, in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999 pp.263,264. The harem had been a mirror by which Western women could assess and assert their own independence. Eighteen- and early-nineteenth-century travelers, believing that harem women had lives free of cares and that they could go about at will, veiled against unwanted attention, thought of the harem as a role model for freedom. From the 1840s on, travelers tended to suggest that harem women were enslaved. They compared their own ability to travel freely and their own occupations and found them worthier than those of harem women. Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of East, Western Women and the exotic allure of the Orient, Greystone Books, Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley, 2005, p. 129. In May 2005, I listened attentively to the questions of the 30 journalists my Spanish publisher scheduled in Madrid to promote the translation of my book "Les Sindbads Morocains". From their questions, which all dealt with the veil and terrorism, it was clear that they had no clue about the strategic issue mobilizing the Arab World : al-fitna raqmiya (digital chaos), the destruction of space frontiers by the new Information Technologies (IT). The key problem giving anxiety fits to elites and masses, to heads of states and street-vendors, to men and women in the Arab world today is the digital chaos induced by IT such as the internet and the satellite which has destroyed the hudud, the space frontier which divided the universe into a sheltered private arena where women and children were supposed to be protected, and a public one where adult males exercised their presumed problem-solving authority. 1. Digital Chaos: It is no longer "to be or not to be" but "to navigate or not to navigate" (...) It is this kind of mind-blowing civilizational shift happening in the Arab world where men are finally embarking on becoming skilled digital nomads instead of crying about the frontiers' collapse and dreaming of harems for their wives - that I tried to share with the Spanish journalists obsessed by the veil and terrorism during my Madrid encounter in May 2005. Although the Spanish city of Gibraltar is just 13 km away from the Moroccan port of Tangiers, I realized that Spaniards had no idea about the revolution the information technologies have produced in our part of the world. And one reason for that is the fact that in Madrid's plush hotel which advertised itself as satellite-connected, I could not connect to my favorite Al-Jazeera or to any one of the 200 pan-Arab satellite channels beaming now in the Mediterranean. At one point, I tried to illustrate this change by sharing with them the extraordinary emergence of women I saw in the Arab Gulf during a visit to Bahrain in March 2005. I tried to describe to them Mai Al-Khalifa, a historian who in less than a decade, has created modern spaces such as museums and cultural centers that encourage dialogues between the sexes and the generations. I tried to explain that focusing on this unexpected emergence of women in the oil-rich Arab Gulf is more significant an indicator than the veils of the Moslem migrant community, but the Spanish journalists were trapped in their own veil and terror. (...) Fatema Mernissi: Digital Scheherazade, The Rise of Women as Key Players in the Arab Gulf Communication Strategies, Excerpts from the longer English manuscript, Rabat, September 2005 In www.mernissi.net/books/articles/digital_scheherazade. B´s thread [Friends] urged me heartily to stay home. They painted the most attractive pleasures in glowing colours. One day I could put perfumed soaps into the wardrobes, I could create new kinds of marmelades and sauces; the next day I could be supreme head in a battle against flies, hunt for moths, I could darn socks…The afternoons would be devoted to the sermons of preachers of fashion, to the offices of the cathedral and to the delicate conversations between women where, after having slit the throats of their closest, they refresh themselves in chatter about toilettes, pregnancies and breastfeeding. I knew how to resist all of these temptations. –Jane Dieulafoy, 1887. Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of East, Western Women and the exotic allure of the Orient, Greystone Books, Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley, 2005, p87-88. The harem had been a mirror by which Western women could assess and assert their own independence. Eighteen- and early-nineteenth-century travelers, believing that harem women had lives free of cares and that they could go about at will, veiled against unwanted attention, thought of the harem as a role model for freedom. From the 1840s on, travelers tended to suggest that harem women were enslaved. They compared their own ability to travel freely and their own occupations and found them worthier than those of harem women. Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of East, Western Women and the exotic allure of the Orient, Greystone Books, Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley, 2005, p129. Most visitors were impatient with the idleness. Amelia Edwards met women in a village north of Luxor who were “absolutely without mental resource; and they were even without the means of taking air and exercise. One could see that time hung heavy on their hands, and that they took but feeble interest in the things around them”. […] Some visitors went so far as to question whether Eastern women were of the same species. German traveler Countess Ida von Hahn-Hahn wrote that the women of the harem she visited in the early 1840s were dull-witted, and that “a woman without intelligence is no longer a woman, but, alas!…she becomes simply une femelle.” Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of East, Western Women and the exotic allure of the Orient, Greystone Books, Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley, 2005, p117. My question: Is the image of the other, of any other, still a mirror we need for assessing our own (cultural/gender) identity? Do we need the projection of the other (opressed) women to feel free? Do we travel to put the mirror in a different context, or do we travel to get away from our own? N´s thread In Lucinda Darby Griffith´s diary of 1845 there is a most unusual lithograph entiteled “The interior of the Hharee´m of Mochtah Bey”. Despite the awkwardness of the amateur artist´s work, this sketch conveys the exoticism of Cairene interior, with its mashrabiyah screens, cooling fountain, and sumptuously cushioned interior peopled by exotically attired Ottoman women. As such, this illustration conforms to the European stereotype of the harem. There is however, one significant incongruity, namely, the inclusión of Griffith in bonnet and crinoline seated on a chair at the right. All eyes are directed towards the newcomer to the harem whose difference is so marked by her attire. Mary Roberts, Intimate Outsiders, Tha Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2007, p. 80. For the nineteenth-century diarist, the incipient fears associated with entering the space of the harem, coupled with the potentially dislocating experience of travel to a foreign country, provided the conditions by which the British woman was confronted with an experience of radical alterity. The feared loss of control was often encapslated in a description of an unlocatable gaze in the harem, indicating that entry to the harem could be a profoundly dislocating experience, one of being out of place. This phenomenon can be explored in reference to the Lacanian gaze. Rather than the harem being a managable space that confirmed the subject, this experience threatened its destabilization. A key aspect of this experience was the notion of a power vested elsewhere, its precise source unlocatable and its manifestation nuclear, which is aking to Lacan´s concept of the gaze.The Lacanian double dihedron schema, which diagrams the relation between the eye and the gaze, challenges the perspectival system of vision that is premised upon the illusion of an alignment between the two and is aplicable to the harem diary scenario. Lacan´s model demonstrates the radical rupture of the eye by the gaze. Constituting the subject via the opaque screen, the gaze is both radically exterior and simultaneously its internal blind spot. […] Mary Roberts, Intimate Outsiders, Tha Harem in Ottoman and Orientalist Art and Travel Literature, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2007, p. 84. C´s thread If we think that giving birth to girls is something undesirable as some of us do, is it the decision of the woman to do so? Why isn´t the man blamed as the woman is blamed? Why doesn´t the woman ask for a divorce and marry another man so that she can bear boys? If one of the spouses clings to this fallacy, it could be that the other would adhere to it as well. They are equally able to be right or wrong in this matter.In our home life there is much to concern us. We have archaic practices that should for reform. Men should not occupy our time, and thoughts complaining about there work. I think they are subject to the injustice of the government on the one hand, and the difficulty of making ends meet on the other. They find no one to take revenge upon except us. I do not believe that there is any opponent who is weaker in weaponry than us, and less vengeul. Oh God, inspire the men of our government to do right because their injustice to the nation has many repercussions on us. It seems that we have not received anything more than men receive except pain. This reverses the Quranic verse that says, ‘One man´s share shall equal two women´s shares.’ Malak Hifni Nasif, know by the pseudonym Bahithat al Badiya (seeker in the desert), Bad Deeds of Men: Injustice, 1909, in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999, p.136. (Translated from Arabic by Margot Badran and Ali Badran Specialised work for each sex is a matter of convention. It is not mandatory. We women are now unable to do hard work because we have not been accustomed to it. If the city woman had not been prevented from doing hard work she would have been as strong as the man. Isn´t the country woman like her city sister? Why then is the former in better health and stronger than the latter? Do you have any doubt that a woman from Minufiya (a town in the Delta) would be able to beat the strongest man from al-Ghuriya (a section of Caro) in a wrestling match? If men say to us that we have been created weak we say to them, ‘No, it is you who made us weak through the path you made us follow.’ […] Now I shall return to the path we should follow. If I had the right to legislate I would decree: 1.Teaching girls the Quran and the correct Sunna. 2. Primary and secondary school education for girls, and compulsatory preparatory school education for all. 3. Instruction for girls on the theory and practice of home economics, health, first aid, and childcare. 4. Setting a quota for females in medicine and education so they can serve the 5. Allowing women to study any other advanced subjects they wish without restriction. 6. Upbringing for girls infancy stressing patience, honesty, work and other virtues. 7. Adhering to the Sharia concerning betrothal and marriage, and not permitting any woman and man to marry without first meeting each other in the presence of the father or a male relative of the bride. 8. Adopting the veil and outdoor dress of the Turkish women of Istanbul. 9.Maintaining the best interests of the country and dispensing with forign goods and people as much as posible. 10. Make it encumbent upon our brothers, the men of Egypt, to implement this programme. Malak Hifni Nasif, Lecture in the Club of the Umma Party, 1909, in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999, p.136. (Translated from Arabic by Margot Badran and Ali Badran) Knowing how to read and write is not to be considered an independent science. It is a mode of communcation. When two people comunicate while they are apart from one another, they do it through writing, which is like conversing as if they were near one another. A person who knows how to read and write is not considered educated except if he has taken it as a way to attain kowledge. Regrettably in Egypt we are ignorant of this and we automatically consider the woman who knows how to read and write to be an educated person. If she does something wrong we blame it on her education saying that education corrupted her morals. God knows that that woman is ignorant and commited wrong through her ignorance. She found a way to communicate with those outside her presence and expressed herself in this way revealing inappropriate thoughts coming to her through ignorance and arrogance. In this she is worse off than the woman who does not know how to read and write because she can record in her own hand something shameful that cannot be erased in the future. On the other hand, the woman who does not know how to read may say something improper, but it will be soon forgotten because it is not written down. Nabawiya Musa (1890-1951) Zigazig, Eastern Delta, Egypt. “The Effect of books and Novels on Morals (1920)”, in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999, p.261. (Translated from Arabic by Margot Badran and Ali Badran) Men have spoken so much of the difference between men and women that they would seem to be two seperate species. With due respect for the views of men I would like to state my own to remind them of something they may have forgotten. Human beings are animals governed by the same rules of nature regarding reproduction, growth, decline, and desth. The male animal is no different from the female except in reproduction. If it were true that the instincts of the male cat were different from the instincts of the female cat it would also be true that there would be a difference between man and woman in mental gifts. No scientist has claimed that the female cat likes to jump and play and devours mice while the male cat is reasonable, serious, and does not hurt a mouse or steal meat. Both male and femal mice are said to have the same characteristics. Likewise, nobody has said that the male dog is honest and intelligent and the female dog dishonest and stupid. Both male cats and dogs have stronger muscles and larger bodies than female cats and dogs, but otherwise they are no different.[…] Men claim they have suprerior intelligence saying there have been more men of genius than women. They forget that only when people use their gifts do they develop. That is why poor men who have spent their lives as cooks or tailors have not excelled in the arts or sciences. How can we expect, therefore, to find women whose energies we have restricted to taking care of their homes and whose knowledge is confined to this sphere excelling as geniuses? Nabawiya Musa:. “The Difference between Men and Women and Their Capacities for Work (1920)”, in Badran, Margot; Cook, Miriam (edts.): Opening the Gates. An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.1999, p.263-264.

first thread

2008-07-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

I am beginning to pull the first thread by speaking of something I had initially no intention of dealing with, but which, due to its symbolic value and its polarising effect, should probably be present in a debate on representation and visibility. I refer to the ‘unavoidable’ matter of the veil, and more specifically to its use by the Muslim women inside and outside Western culture. I call it unavoidable, because it is a subject that reappears regularly in Western media –always with the aim of opening the discussion on the possibility (or not) of legislating its use. Personally, it is not for me to give an opinion on what a woman, or man, wears in any part of the world. Moreover, I think there are innumerable ways in which dress codes contribute to inclusion into (or exclusion out of) ethnic, religious and social groups, which, in fact, are not publicly discussed. Thus is disorientating to insist on that specific matter, only concerning Muslim women –who have small presence in our media, society, in what it is referred to themselves and their activities. This discussion often happens to be the first (and only) representation of ‘Arab’ women in our national media. Few articles on scientists, lawyers, feminists, teachers, single mothers, workers, unemployed women, divorced women, etc, in and outside our national borders appear in the press if not related to that ‘single’ theme… Of course, we are not talking about ‘a’ piece of fabric (call it Burka, Chador, Shayla, Niqab or Hiyab). More likely we deal with a highly empowered ‘innocent’ piece of clothing that has become the main tool for a variety of Eastern and Western discourses. As far as I know, this piece of fabric has – like no other- the rare and unique privilege of being in everybody’s mouth. The question of the veil has become a political one, covering –beyond the common use of the cloth itself- the levelling intentions that made women themselves subjects to and of the different battlegrounds. In Western culture the homogenizing debate is presented as a women’s rights affair. Lets say, the fact of wearing a veil is equal to the fact of submission. ‘We’ are concerned about the rights of women, of which we –on the other hand do not know (or do not want/need to know) any other than the common places. We take it for granted that the veil is ‘imposed’ against the wearer’s will, and pretend that not wearing it is a guarantee for women’s freedom throughout the world. A recent article in EL PAÍS reads More Muslim women wearing veils, Because they want to? I have to admit that it’s difficult for me to imagine someone willingly hiding her entire body, allowing only a grid before her eyes from which to see the world without ‘being seen’. ‘My culture’ (who´s culture?) and education (who´s) make it nearly impossible to imagine what it might be like. In a certain way, ‘my own condition’ does not allow me to access the one of the others. I don’t consider myself capable of grappling with whether or not it is a voluntary action. In my opinion, we do many things in ‘society’ that are not, and probably will never be (?) acts of free will. I might not be right, but I suspect that women, on the whole, are more likely (educated) to accept some social dictums. For me the use (forced or not) of the veil is equally surprising as for example the idea of women, from fourteen to forty, having their breasts conformed to the standard B size. Not that I consider these examples as formally comparable, but they are socially. We may well, in both cases, speak of woman’s visibility. A visibility that is determined –legally or not- by some social canons/customs ruled by masculine vision (either from men or women). The veil question adds another dimension to the eternal subject of conditioned visibility: that of the uniform, or what is the same: uniformity of visibility. I still remember women in black, with their head covered in this country. What was a valid image thirty years ago is now a cultural remainder almost erased from collective memory. A we that no longer exists –forgotten, stale and inappropriate- The kerchief that was a warrant of “belonging” now is the opposite. What I don’t remember is that the international community took any interest on what these women wore – or still wear in some places in the South of Europe. I guess it is very different if ‘we”’wear it, and know why, or if ‘they’ wear it, and what seems more struggling, that it is if they do it massively. The Turkish feminist, Liz Erçevik, says that “the discussion has been posed in an over-simplified way: veil or no veil. We have to learn why more women wear the veil. On one hand, the West invades Kuwait or Afhganistan to free women, on the other, Muslim leaders instrumentalise women to reinforce national identities. This debate only diminishes women and their rights. And I don’t know if this focus slights all women’s rights, because makes us concentrate on the obvious and ignore the other, less obvious and less visible matters such as the lack of rights in all the parts of the world.” Well, I said at the beginning that it is not my intention to open up Pandora´s box, adding more POLEMICA on a subject already over-represented in media, while omitting a visibility that extends beyond appearances and topics. But since I have suspect that identity and representation of women –including self-representation- has been always inseparable of their ‘image’ -real or invented, adopted or imposed- I thought it might be convenient to open up a space of reflection to what determines this image. Allow me to bring this question down to a more ‘banal’ and personal realm. I don’t know how you deal with ‘outside influences’; but I can´t confirm that my wardrobe is free from some sorts of exterior influences that include me or exclude me from a ‘general feminine image’ (who´s image?). I don’t know whether a menial fact like almost never wearing high-heels says something or not about me. Does the fact that I share the Harem of size 38, as Fatima Mernissi calls it (regardless of my real size and regardless of the many different sizes western women may use -what counts is that there are sizes we are conscious of) makes me contribute (unwillingly or not) to a common visibility towards other cultures, even if I am more likely not take part in? What covers or unveils the adult woman’s body has always been matter of ‘concern’, beyond individual choice or one’s own cultural realm. The image of Western women travelling in the XIX Century is a good example of this (which, in a way, lead us back –finally- to the initial subject of the planned installation work for El Cairo). I have already said that I found few references on Arab women in their writings and drawings, but we do know a lot more from the projection of their own image outside their cultural ground. Some chose masculine outfits, some others kept their appearance of ’ladies’ wearing their usual dresses in remote and seldom visited territories, while very few of them imitate the women in local ways of wearing clothes. Among them there were already discussions on advantages and disadvantages of some clothes in particular, including the use of the veil. I guess each choice of them was due to their own social extraction and by the idea (given, transmitted or effective experience) of the place itself. Logically (at least, in my logic) these approaches or distances have a lot to do with the ever present fear of the other. To frame or unframe oneself, to assimilate, integrate and differentiate are two sides of the negotiation dealing with the clash/meeting/gathering of cultures. In this way, I could now return to the question of the veil…!? I have re-read what I have written and find many over simplifications which I should return to later in greater depth. But, right now, at the time being, as I wouldn’t like to ‘make’ just any other discourse, but rather I am “dropping” these reflections, unfinished and unrevised, addressed to you. My purpose is only to open the first door of the further space in which we can exchange views and thoughts. I hope some of the exposed ideas will suggest new thoughts and considerations. I will be looking forward your news, and your thoughts.

Voy a comenzar a compartir mis reflexiones con vosotras hablando de un tema que en un principio no tenía intención de tratar, pero que -por su valor simbólico y su poder polarizador- probablemente deba de estar presente en un debate sobre representación y visualidad. El tema al que me refiero, es el ‘inevitable’ tema del velo, más concretamente de su uso por parte de las mujeres musulmanas, dentro y fuera de occidente. Digo inevitable, porque se trata de un tema que de tanto en tanto, pero con cierta persistencia y regularidad, aparece en los medios de prensa occidentales -siempre con ánimos abrir y reabrir el debate sobre la posible (o no) legislación de su uso. En lo que me respecta personalmente, no me corresponde opinar sobre la indumentaria de ninguna mujer, ni de ningún hombre, de ninguna parte del mundo. Además creo que existen innumerables formas de vestir que contribuyen a subrayar la inclusión en (o exclusión de) determinados grupos étnicos, religiosos y sociales, que de hecho, no se debaten en público. Así que resulta algo desconcertante que se insista en esta cuestión tan sólo cuando se trata de la representación de las mujeres musulmanas –que por otro lado tienen poca presencia en nuestros medios de comunicación, para no decir en nuestra sociedad, en lo que se refiere a su ser y su que hacer. Este debate suele ser la primera, si no única representación de las mujeres ‘árabes’ en la prensa nacional. Pocos son los artículos sobre científicas, abogadas, feministas, docentes, madres solteras, trabajadoras, desempleadas, divorciadas, etc, fuera y dentro de nuestra fronteras nacionales que no estén relacionados de algún que otro modo con el tema.

Claro está, aquí y allá no se está hablando de un trozo de tela (llámese Burka, Chador, Shayla, Niqab o Hiyab). Lo interesante para mi es como una simple e ‘inocente’ prenda a llegado a ser objeto instrumentalización por parte de los diversos discursos occidentales y orientales. Que yo sepa, este pedazo de tejido no comparte el privilegio de estar en boca de todo el mundo con ninguna otra prenda. La cuestión del velo ha devenido una cuestión política, encubriendo –más allá de su función literal- intenciones niveladoras que han hecho de las mujeres su campo de batalla. En occidente el debate homogeneizador se presenta como un debate sobre los derechos de la mujer. ‘Nos’ preocupamos de los derechos de quienes, por otro lado, conocemos muy poco. ’Asumimos’ el hecho que el uso del velo no es voluntario y por ello símbolo de sumisión, en una ecuación que en ocasiones pretende dar a entender que el mero hecho de no llevarlo garantice las libertades de las mujeres de todo el mundo. Un reciente artículo en el PAÍS lleva por título Más musulmanas con velo. ¿Porque quieren? Admito que a mi tampoco me resulta fácil creer que alguien oculte voluntariamente todo su cuerpo, con nada más que una rejilla de tela delante los ojos, para ver el mundo sin ser visto. Mi cultura y mi educación me impiden imaginármelo. Es decir mi propia condición me impide acceder a la condición de otros/otras. Por eso mismo no me veo capaz de entrar en la cuestión de si es cierto que sea un acto voluntario o no. A mi entender, hay muchas cosas que hacemos cuando vivimos en sociedad que no son, y probablemente no puedan ser (¿), actos de libre ejercicio. Y no sé si estoy en lo cierto, pero sospecho que las mujeres son más susceptibles a someterse a determinados dictámenes sociales. Porque, de la misma manera que me falta imaginación para entender lo que te puede impulsar (forzosamente o no) un burka, me quedo(por ejemplo) estupefacta ante la idea de que chicas de 17 o 45 años se operan los pechos para acercarse al estándar de la talla B. No creo que se trate de cuestiones necesariamente comparables en lo formal, pero si en lo social y lamentablemente, en ambos casos, estamos hablando de la visibilidad de la mujer. Una visibilidad que –legislada oficialmente o no- está de por sí determinada por unos cánones sociales que en su mayoría siguen siendo sujetos a la visión masculina –sea este punto de vista el de mujeres o de hombres. Como si no, se explica, que incluso la indumentaria de comunicación. Pero, la cuestión de velo añade al eterno tema de la visibilidad condicionada otra dimensión que es la visualidad de lo uniforme, o, lo que podría ser lo mismo: la uniformización de la visibilidad. Aún recuerdo las mujeres vestidas de negro y con el pelo cubierto en este país. Lo que era válido en términos de imagen estereotipada hace treinta años ahora es un residuo cultural borrado de la memoria colectiva. Un nosotras que ya no existe –olvidado, caduco e inapropiado. El pañuelo que antaño garantizaba la inclusión en el grupo ahora es símbolo de exclusión. Lo que no recuerdo es que el hecho que las mujeres en el sur de Europa llevaran y en algunos sitios aún llevan una indumentaria similar a la que está en cuestión, despertara el interés de la comunidad internacional. Supongo que no es lo mismo que sean las otras que lo llevan y, lo que parece que preocupa más, que lo lleven uniformemente y masivamente. ‘Dice la feminista turca Liz Erçevik “que el debate se plantea en términos muy simplistas -velo sí o velo no- y que hay que ver por qué cada vez más mujeres usan el pañuelo. Por un lado, Occidente invade Kuwait o Afganistán para liberar a las mujeres y, por otro lado, los líderes musulmanes las instrumentalizan para reforzar la identidad nacional. Este debate polarizado lo único que hace es menguar los derechos de las mujeres”. Y no sé hasta que punto se podría decir que esta polarización mengua los derechos de todas las mujeres porque desvía la atención de cuestiones mucho menos obvias, menos visibles, de falta de derechos en todas las partes del mundo.” Bueno, ya dije al principio de la carta que no era mi intención de destapar la caja de pandora para polemizar una vez más sobre un tema que está sobre-representado en los medios, frente a la omisión de una visibilidad que va más allá de los tópicos y de las apariencias. Pero ya que sospecho que la identidad y la representación (incluida la autorepresentación) de las mujeres de cualquier parte, ha sido desde siempre indisociable de su imagen (real o imaginaria) –adoptada o impuesta- creo conveniente dedicar un ‘espacio de reflexión’ a aquello que determina en buena manera esta imagen. Permitád me que por un momento me lleve esta cuestión al ámbito de lo más ‘banal’ o lo más personal. No sé como lo vivís vosotras, pero yo no puedo afirmar que mi ropero no esté en absoluto libre de cualquier influencia exterior que me enmarca o me excluye de una imagen femenina general. No sé si un hecho tan ‘superficial’ como no usar casi nunca tacones quiere decir algo de mi, o que habérmelos colocado en alguna ocasión quiera decir otra cosa distinta. ¿Que yo comparta el Harem de la talla 38, como lo llama Fatema Mernissi, con muchas mujeres Occidentales (y da igual que sea la 36 o la 40, porque lo que cuenta es que existan unas medidas y que somos conscientes de ellas), me hace proyectar una visualidad común, de la que quizás del otro lado no puedo ni quiero ser partícipe? Lo que tapa o destapaba el cuerpo de la mujer adulta siempre ha sido una preocupación -más allá de la elección individual e incluso más allá del propio ámbito cultural. Buen ejemplo de ello son los testimonios escritos y/o visuales que viene de la mano de las mujeres viajeras occidentales del siglo XIX (con lo que vuelve tras muchos rodeos al tema inicial que me hizo plantear la instalación para el Cairo). Ya os comenté que encontré pocas referencias a las mujeres árabes en sus escritos y dibujos, pero sin embargo ‘sabemos’ mucho sobre la imagen propia que trataban de proyectar estas mujeres fuera de su ámbito cultural. Las hay que optan por la indumentaria masculina. Otras viajan con la sus vestidos de época tratando de mantener la imagen de ‘ladies’ en lugares poco frecuentados y remotos, mientras unas muy pocas imitan la vestimenta femenina de los lugares locales. Entre ellas hay algunas que ya entonces debatían las ventajas y desventajas de determinado vestido, incluido las de el uso del velo. Imagino que cada elección venía motivada por la propia condición social por un lado y por la idea (imagen preestablecida, transmitida o experiencia efectiva) que se tenía del lugar. Lógicamente (en mi lógica), estos distanciamientos o acercamientos tienen mucho que ver con el eterno miedo al otro. Enmarcarse o desmarcarse, asimilar, integrar o diferenciarse son dos caras de la misma manera que responden a una necesidad de gestionar el encuentro con otra cultura. En este sentido, ahora podría volver a la cuestión del velo, porque algo tiene que ver, no os parece? Encuentro en lo que acabo de escribir y releer muchas simplificaciones, algunas contradicciones y cosas sobre las que deberé volver y profundizar. Pero de momento, y como no quiero que esto sea otro discurso más, dejo “caer” todo esto sin concluir y sin revisar. Tan sólo quería comenzar a abrir una primera puerta al espacio de nuestros intercambios. Espero de que algo de lo que he venido diciendo dará lugar a nuevas reflexiones. Quedaré a la espera de vuestros pensamientos… Os adjuntaré una imágenes .Me gustaría saber que os inspiran estas imágenes… En lo sucesivo los envíos serán ya por correo ordinario y personalizados, aunque dependiendo de vuestras respuestas no descarto que quizás sea interesante poner las en línea, de tal manera que cada una pueda responder a las contribuciones de la otra. ¿Qué os parece? Un saludo a todas

En respuesta a una de las contribuciones escribí la siguiente carta. Recomiendo seguir los comentarios para seguir el hilo. Hola C, por supuesto estoy de acuerdo con que una mujer no es (ni mucho menos) una expresión que se encubra o des(en)cubra. Cuando hablé de encubrir o reducir cualquier expresión que se aleje de la norma ilustrada, quise extender la cuestión del velo de la razón al ámbito de todas y todos (mujeres y hombres) que se han excluido/se excluyen del relato por medio de este preciso velo razonable que se usa masivamente desde la modernidad, y concretamente desde la época colonial. ‘A la vista está’ que no supe explicarme bien. Me resulta muy interesante tu planteamiento de la trampa. Para mi, la trampa es mayúscula y plural. Ciertamente parece confundirse el debate sobre el velo con el de la libertad de expresión. Y he leído con interés y con conmoción el testimonio de las mujeres musulmanas francesas pidiendo que se les escuche, se les ayude y que impongan la ley “anti-velo”. Sin embargo no puedo evitar sentirme incómoda ante la idea de que el remedio contra una imposición (la de ponerse el velo) venga de la mano de otra imposición (la de quitárselo). Tengo la sensación de encontrarme ante dos realidades que no son comparables y que tienen intenciones bien distintas, pero a las que une y separa la misma naturaleza: la del ejercicio de la fuerza y de la subyugación. El ejercicio de la fuerza, apoyándose en leyes religiosas, machistas o estatales, convierte a las mujeres en objetos pasivos de discursos ideológicos de distinta índole. La cuestión del velo, aquí y allá, no deja de ser una cuestión de visibilidad que se relaciona con la idea de homogeneidad o de pluralidad, según la façon de cada cultura. La mujeres con velo interrumpen la imagen del pluralismo occidental, mientras la mujer con el rostro desvelado trunca la imagen de la comunidad homogénea (Umma) de los musulmanes. Fatema Mernissi lo explica detalladamente de la siguiente manera: “[…] no hay ni un solo debate en la sociedad musulmana que no se centre obsesivamente en la mujer. Las mujeres representan lo diferente, lo raro dentro de la Umma (la comunidad musulmana). Por eso no es de extrañar que la primera decisión del omán Jomeini fuera la de pedir a las mujeres que utilizaran el velo, cuando paradójicamente instauró en 1979 en Irán el sistema republicano que afirma gobernar el país mediante instituciones elegidas democráticamente. Elecciones, sí; pluralismo no. El imán sabía muy bien lo que estaba haciendo. Sabía que una mujer con el rostro descubierto obliga al imán a reconocer que la Umma, la comunidad de fieles, no es homogénea. Las mujeres introducen un factor de heterogeneidad y, para que el islam cumpla con el principio de igualdad es necesario institucionalizar el pluralismo. En el islam los políticos pueden manipularlo todo, pero no podrán convencer de que se renuncie al principio de igualdad entre las personas en su sentido estricto: sin distinguir entre sexos, razas o creencias. Igual que a los cristianos o a los judíos, a las mujeres se las considera iguales. Sin embargo, solo se les garantiza un status de minoría que restringe sus derechos legales, ya que se les niega el acceso al ámbito de la toma de decisiones. Pueden enviar representantes al órgano de gobierno (se llame este como se llame: antiguamente era el majliss, hoy es el parlamento), pero no tienen derecho a ser visibles. Las mujeres y las minorías están condenadas a ser invisibles para que siga intacta una homogeneidad ficticia.” Fatema Mernissi, El Harén de Occidente, Espasa Calpe, Madrid, 2006, pp 33,34. De algún modo sospecho que esta cuestión podría ser reversible. ¿ No sería posible pensar que ‘aquí’ vivimos en un pluralismo ficticio y que el velo hace visible las contingencias de este preciso pluralismo descubriéndonos su parte más imaginari? ¿ No sería posible pensar que el velo levanta tanta polémica por su cualidad de descubrir un sistema que mantiene las desigualdades más allá del colectivo de las mujeres musulmanas? Por lo demás, no creo que deba entrar demasiado en el debate del enjuiciamiento del velo, porque creo que esto podría condicionar mucho el debate general. Capi, si te parece bien, me gustaría compartir nuestra conversación con más gente. Y en lugar de aportar afirmaciones por mi parte preferiría añadir algunas preguntas que me vinieron a la mente cuando leí tu mail. ¿Qué hay del ‘verdadero’ derecho a elegir libremente? Es decir, ¿no cabe pensar que la defensa de los derecho de la mujer se deba llevar a cabo de tal manera que ellas mismas puedan tomar sus decisiones, sin depender éstas ni de sus maridos, ni del estado? Y, ¿las mujeres ‘magrebis-musulmanas-francesas’, por el mero hecho de quitarse el velo accederían a las mismos derechos que las mujeres ‘francesas de la Francia’ (para ultilizar una terminología muy al uso entre los pieds noirs)? Y, ¿ el debate del velo, no desvía en ocasiones la atención de las libertades en general? Quiero decir, al mantener este debate, tal y como se viene haciendo, ¿no se habla automáticamente de un áfuera’, de un ‘otro’, que se condena o que se protege, pero siempre desde una posición paternalista de lo propio o del centro (o del poder)? Bueno, aquí lo dejo. Añado unas cuantas citas (contradictorias) y unas imágenes (igualmente contradictorias, o no?) Como siempre muchas gracias por compartir tus pensamientos conmigo. Un abrazo, Anja “(I was) very much peased to learn that all along the road I have been genearally mistaken for a boy. I had no idea of any disguise, but as son as I found it out I encouraged the idea and I shall do so in future whenever we are off the usual beaten tracks.” Isabel Burton, 1875 In Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of the East, Greystone Books, Vancouver, 2005, p.65. “If you are in a room be of the same colour as the people in it.” Persian proverb quoted by Ella Sykes, 1901. In Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of the East, Greystone Books, Vancouver, 2005, p.67. “Tradicionalmente el siglo XIX francés ha representado, a través de las artes en general (literatura y artes plásticas fundamentalmente), a la mujer oriental bajo una visión idílica. Cabe citar toda la tradición de la literatura oriental francesa (Gautier, Flaubert, Maupassant) que se correspondió en pintura con una moda oriental practicada por un buen número de pintores franceses, fruto de sus frecuentes viajes a África. Estos artistas se han recreado en representar a una mujer velada y envuelta en velos, pero este velo se ha potenciado debido a su imaginario. A partir de él han creado su propio Oriente. El velo no era más que una invitación al ‘dévoilement’. En la misma medida que el mundo árabe se caracteriza por ser una sociedad en la que la mujer permanece oculta, estos artistas la desnudan multiplicando las escenas de los baños y las imágenes de odaliscas.” Josefina Bueno, en www.ub.es/cdona/Bellesa/BUENO.pdf, last update 10/07/2008 “Most women saw the sense of modifying their clothing [while travelling the east] to make it less restrictive, but even then they found themselves odd with their surroundings. Amelia Edwards mockingly described herself and her friend Lucy as ‘sorry figures’…” Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of the East, Greystone Books, Vancouver, 2005, p.66. “In France, from 1789 until 2004, a trouser-clad woman was a law breaker. In the 1830s, the Saint-Simoniennes were mocked for the pantaloons peeking out from under their skirts. Fifty years later, archaeologist Jane Dieulafoy, who travelled through Persia dressed as a man, hended a Permission de travestisement, Permit to Cross-dress (granted by the police in case of health or occupational requirement) and indulged in the opportunity to dress comfortable even while in Paris.” Barbara Hodgson, Dreaming of the East, Greystone Books, Vancouver, 2005, p.73. H´s reply (forwarded images)

Artists call for contributions

2008-07-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

I am writing to you to ask for your cooperation for an Installation (Blind dates) I will be showing at the Gezira Art Gallery, Cairo, in November 2008.

Most of the women I am writing to are dear friends, others are professionals whose work I appreciate greatly and many of the contacts come from researching related themes. I hope my proposal is of interest to you and I would very much appreciate it if you would consider taking part in the project. In the above statement I will try to describe the projects contents and aims, as well as my idea of your contribution to the work.

If you wish to participate contact me at anja.krakowski@gmail.com.

Thanks to all of you in advance. My kindest wishes...

The projects 'threads' for contribution will be published on this side and you may leave your comments, but if you would like to engage further please email me...

Blind dates

2008-07-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Blind dates / The Project The project Blind dates. (Monolinguism, Parallel lines and contact zones) is my response to an invitation to exhibit in a group show that will be taking place in November 2008 at the Gezira Art Gallery. My contribution to the show consists of locating a site (this site) through movements and displacements that have been made towards and within Egypt, at specific moments of time, trying to approach the subject of cultural exchanges, cultural blindness and cultural influences at a specific site. As I have never been to the site before, neither I will have the possibility to travel to Cairo before the setting up of the installation for the show, I have decided to consider this a blind date, an imaginary voyage from a distance towards a specific destination that can not be fully reached. From a multiple perspective and starting out from several, different departure points I have chosen to ‘walk on beaten tracks’, based on the travel accounts and experiences of others who ‘have already been there’, tracing and (re)drawing lines through natural and social landscapes of other times and the other places. The route can not (and does not want to) be foreseen, neither it should be conclusive or pretend to reach a final destination, but ideally it will open up new roads and places of reflection, building up a net of encounters and conversations in and across the exhibition space. Blind dates. (Monolinguism, Parallel lines and contact zones) is an installation which comes in parts. 1st part. Parelolinguism. (No contact in the contact zones?) A short introduction to the concept. The subject of the installation derives from my readings of (and on) travel narratives of western (mainly European women), their ways of approaching or keeping distance from cultural differences. Regarding the early travel accounts of women writers from the 19th century, which contributed to a different –in comparison with contemporary male travellers writings- but yet imperialistic discourse. This subject is obviously not a new one, but I think it is my emphasis on the fact that Arab women almost never appear in any of the narratives of early women travellers. While male writers and artists have developed a particular interest in representing an ‘imaginary’ Orient, stressing an exotic female representation, Egyptian, and Arab women in general, are mostly absent from the accounts of women writers of the period. I am not trying to make a judgement, rather I am interested in the possible reasons of what, to my contemporary eyes, does very much look like ‘cultural blindness’. The absence of the ‘other women’ is particularly ‘fascinating’ in a somewhat negative sense if we take in account the fact that almost all of those female western travellers where seen in their places of origin as pioneers at their best and as excentric, foolish and inadapted at their worst. In any case, they were women who, through their journeys, tried to escape from oppressive social rules and to find alternative ways of self development and freedom. Starting out with those issues, many questions have been aroused. Why did those women, while trying to overcome the repressive atmosphere in which women lived at home, on the other hand show no interest in how the ‘female other’ dealt with social circumstances abroad? Was the distance they showed towards their own gender part of the strive for liberation, in the same way as it was a development or a reproduction of male behaviour? Was their representing of the host country through its reduction to nature the result of their freeing themselves from living within any kind of social network? And, on the other hand, where and who were those ‘other’ women who are not present in the orientalising male representations? What was and what is the representation of Muslim/Arab/Egyptian women like nowadays? Finally I am interested in extending these issues to my own struggles of dealing with cultural differences. How do I work in and towards a place that I only know better from clichés and somewhat topical references? Am I free of prejudice? Do I travel without the heavy luggage of culturally conditioned ways of seeing and doing? Are non-representation, over-representation, mis-representation and induced absence something that occurs to me? The installation itself. In an attempt to answer some of the issues exposed above, I have designed a sound installation where western and Egyptian women of different times and backgrounds meet in a fictional contact zone, speaking simultaneously in such a way that their monologues interweave. The first and most intrinsically material part of the project is a sound installation, consisting of 4 boxes containing sound sources that each travel on a separate rack along the walls, crossing from time to time, so that the monologues become a sort of overlapping dialogues for a few seconds. Each source corresponds to particular voices (4 each), with a total of 16 voices participating on parallel lines, showing a fictional contact zone of cultural exchange. The voices in this multilayered ‘text’ come different past and contemporary sources: A. Many are taken from ancient and contemporary books such as from Lucie Duff Gordon (letters from Egypt, 1865), Amelia Edwards (A thousand miles upon the Nile, 1877), Florence Nightingale (Letters from Egypt,1854), Harriet Martineau (Deerbrook, 1839), Joan Rees (Writings on the Nile, 1995), Marie Louise Pratt (Imperial eyes, 1992), Ulrike Stamm (The role of nature in two women´s travel accounts, 1994), Fatema Mernissi (el Harén en Occidente, 2000); Shaarawi, Huda (Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist, 1879-1924), etc. B. Others come from Egyptian Internet sources, discussing the subject of Arab women representations and western/oriental feminism. C. Further sources come from the exchange of thoughts and information obtained through your cooperation, as shown in the description of the 2nd part below. 2nd part. Egyptian thread (Interweaving) As an extension of the sound installation, I am already involved in a work in progress which is aimed at involving other women in the exchange of thoughts and visions on this subject. In this context, I am using old postcards, printed in Egypt and sent to several destinations in Europe and other Continents. The majority of the postcards is from around 1900 and show Egyptian woman of the period. Most of the women are wearing traditional dresses, whilst some are nude and many are carrying water jugs. I suppose that they show the taste of their time (who’s taste?). I am sending these postcards, asking artists and writers to reflect upon the image, on the content or on the year they have been posted. Additionally, I will send a separate postcard containing a question, an excerpt from one of the sources I am using in the 1st part or a statement from some of my writings ….Both postcards should be returned with a response (therefore a third postcard will be provided). Any type of response provided will be welcomed (images, a text, new questions)… 3rd Part. Towards a destination. This part derives from my own struggle to approach a place, a situation, showing the many roads I am walking without being ever able to reach the final destination. This means that I need to show in the exhibition the whole process that has taken place before the exhibition, making clear that the ‘final result’ is nothing more than a provisional ending of an ongoing reflection. In this part, which is accumulative, I will show photographs, drawings and texts that have been produced in my studio and at the University over a period of six months working towards the exhibition. 4. At the site. Through other (s´) eyes. Once I am ‘physically’ at the destination, I would like to carry out a photographic shoot together with Egypt women and ask them to represent themselves, either by giving them the camera or by asking them to choose the situation (location, perspective, light, clothes, etc) themselves. Those portraits will be used together with the previous material at the next show which will be taking place in Alicante, Spain.