the joy of book reviews

I have recently starting writing book reviews for the London School of Economics Review of Books and it has proved to be a very exciting process.

Due to my current dissertation concentrating primarily on female Muslim political blogging, I have been keen to read other work emerging from Muslim female contexts. Therefore all of my book reviews have concentrated on Islam, gender, politics, and sexuality which have proved to be academic areas with a rich amount of research work currently being conducted.

The key theme emerging from most my recent reading has been the relationship between the West and Islam and I think this is an interesting point. When we consider development, frequently the West has been blamed for applying a one-size-fits-all Western framework which understands any other understandings of issues such as gender and sexuality as wrong. Especially when we consider gender, it is important to understand that a large amount of the negative attitudes towards Islam exist in contrast to Western understandings which are not necessarily right. The most recent book I have reviewed 'Sexuality in Muslim Contexts' (2012) by Helie and Hoodfar argues that restrictions to sexuality in Muslim contexts should not be seen as purely a result of religion. The editors argue that sexual freedom existed in Muslim countries before the arrival of the West and all too often Western discourses surrounding sexuality are seen as the only and right ways in which sexuality should be understood when in fact there should be more fluid understandings taking into account cultural differences. Researching sexuality in Muslim contexts therefore must explore different contexts to prove that it is not necessarily always religion but place based norms that dictate sexuality. For example in Bangladesh, it is not uncommon for same sex friendships to be very close and have intimate bonds but these are not considered sexual. Furthermore homo-sexual relationships are not allowed in society but sexuality in Bangladesh is a very fluid category which would not fit into traditional Islamic nor Western understandings, emphasising the importance of place based understandings. In Pakistan, patriarchal societies allow men to use violence to control who women chose to marry, largely this is a result of society, family laws, and tribal systems and this must be taken into account when we view this restrictions. While in Israel, family laws do not give women equal rights, which is not necessarily a result of Islamic laws but Israeli society. Furthermore Islamic texts do not write anyway about laws, but due to an interpretation of these texts by men, and patriarchal societies, women are not the priority in law making.

Two things emerge in my mind from all of this
1. Firstly how problematic it is that Western discourses present Muslim cultures as under-developed or not equal without considering other factors and using Western knowledge systems
2. Secondly the best ways to tackle these problems and to give women a voice

The first question I do not think I am capable of answering, however, the second is one I have given more consideration to recently. The two research projects I have conducted this year at University have both attempted to address this. In my first one I created a climbing forum for women to discuss their own experiences of climbing and to offer advice and help. This created a slight backlash from the male climbing community when I posted an article arguing there was an element of sexism in the climbing community, which is discussed in an earlier blog post. The second piece is my main dissertation and is a reading of Islamic political blogs in Palestine to have a reading of the current conflict from the view of the women involved. I would also like to theorise how female blogs can be considered as emotional, and offering a gendered politics.

The books have been reading have opened up these ideas of alternative understandings of politics. It is interesting when we consider the concept of Image politics in the Middle East to consider how important it has been in changing who has the voice in a conflict and who in particular produces images (Khatib, 2012). Due to the use of blogging, mobile phones, and photography much of the news from the Arab Spring came from the people who were involved in it.

Another consideration is the spaces in which we see women as being empowered. One study in the book 'Women, Politics, and Power in 21st Century Iran' by Tara Povey and Elaheh Rostami-Povey, explores how sexuality is viewed in Iran through an ethnographic study of life drawing classes in Tehran. The editors argue that by exploring a wide range of spaces in Iran we can change how we understand politics in Iran.

A friend linked me to an article the other day that brings these issues of visibility and gender together very well. The article is about a recent ruling by a judge in a Kurdish area of Iran that a man who had committed domestic abuse be punished by being forced to wear womens' clothing in public. Kurdish men have therefore protested to this by dressing up as women and saying they would be proud to be seen as a women and the judge's ruling was demeaning to women. This visibility is important, as I do strongly feel that women must become more visible to gain more political power.

There are definitely ways then that women can be given voices so that the story comes from the women themselves and not third hand sources. This then attempts to address the first question the problems of Western discourses dictating what is right and wrong. Before we say that non-Western countries have backwards attitudes to sexuality, oppress women we must listen to the women themselves. Only by reading, listening, and understanding can be make any positive changes to the treatment of women...

the problems of being a human geography masters student (at home)

After three years living away from home, I must admit moving back definitely has its pros and cons.

Of course the upsides are that I have unlimited (free) food, unlimited (free) heating, (free) clothes washing and drying, and (free) sky movies. When I use the word free I mean of course someone is paying for them and an element of tension does exist with regards to my unlimited use of them but in terms of these things it is definitely better than living in a student flat.

The downsides are that my Mum and brother definitely do not have academia running through their veins (this is not me implying in any way that I do but compared to those two)…. Both are academic but in a far more science like and calculated way that causes a binary between me and them. The constant reading of academic journals, engagement in research groups, and joining of academic book groups to them seems a bit alien. My Mum as a doctor has a much more practical engagement with work while my brother, who studies maths, likes the mechanical and systematic nature of calculations.

My mother does enjoy having a ‘human geographer’ in the house though but merely so she can inform others of this new academic discovery. She enjoys explaining to everyone that human geography is about politics, international relations, development, gender, conflict, violence, security, post-colonialism, environmentalism, culture….the list goes on…but I think that is where her interest ends.

Coming home yesterday to announce I had spent the past two hours critiquing economics as being too rational and making assumptions that we all act in the same manner, when in fact each individual makes their own decisions, fell to deaf ears. The day before I had come home with a feminist argument that Western feminist fail to be intersectional and fails to explore debates such as those surrounding class, gender, religion and race, only for my mother to groan into her coffee with the realisation I was going to turn into ‘one of those feminists’. My mother’s views on this I do find bizarre as she is a single mother, who has been able to support my brother and I, as well as holding down a fairly important job in the NHS. I asked her if she has ever encountered any problems being a woman in a managerial role to which she very adamantly insisted no. With so many stories of sexism circulating it is hard for me to believe her, leaving me to either assume she is lying or just ignorant to any sexism that did occur. Of course though I know the media does like to hype up stories of sexism but even the denial of women in the military to undertake many roles is still sexism that is occurring in the workplace.

Studying geography, however, does definitely leave one in a position whereby one becomes incredibly critical of everything. A human geographer must consider their positionality in the world, where they are coming from, who they are speaking to, and potential conflicts in belief systems. A human geographer must also consider if their research is ethical, how it is making a difference to the world, who is reading it, and why it is important. These are all big questions, and do leave one questioning often the point in academia, whether fieldwork is ever ethnical and can ever make a difference. Two women in my class both conducted fieldwork in Third World countries and both feel heavily guilty about their place as Western women and what right they had to enter communities and ask questions when the likelihood was their research would change the lives of these people very marginally. Another discussion was that of policy and whether Geography academics should be engaging with policy makers to create political change. As critics of academia have argued the research being done often stays within academic failing to have any wider impact.

These are all big questions, that now while doing a Masters I am suddenly face with, and I do not think there is an easy answer to any of them. I guess then I must just try to make my best of academia while battling against critics of academia whether they are within my own home or from the wider world….

moving hame

three years ago I moved from the place where I grew up, made friends, went to school, and had family, Glasgow, to a new city in a new country Newcastle. This decision was made at seventeen and at the time feelings of needing to escape, experience somewhere new, and being independent were driving forces in my decision to relocate.

That was three years ago and although the factors I have described definitely were present then, being away from home created new feelings of separation, dislocation, and identity that then made me ready at twenty years old and after finishing my degree, to move back to Glasgow and live at home.

I had a need to return somewhere I felt safe, and somewhere where my identity felt secure. It is only when your identity is in some way foreign that I believe you really appreciate it. Although Newcastle was only over the border in England just three hours away, in terms of identity I was not so secure.

So this blog will detail my life back in Glasgow, back living at home, but still studying (just moving up the academic latter slightly to an MRes in Human Geography). It will aim to be anecdotal, funny, insightful but will most importantly give my views on current affairs and the Geography I am studying.

This links me back to moving home, my Geography is one which explores place, space, politics, development, identity, culture, gender, economics, race, colonialism, feminism. I am interested in what it is like to belong and how we create identity in a particular place. Furthermore the different spaces we should look at, how people represent place, and what happens when there are multiple identities on a particular place which clash.

I hope this blog will be funny, interesting and enlightening.