Readings: “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” by Abu-Lughod

I disagree with  Lila Abu-Lughod’s theory that Afghan women would rather be oppressed than to endure the hardship of war.  The mandate that forces them to wear burqas is not righteous, and I believe that they do indeed need to be saved from a culture that supports men’s superiority.  I think that women should wear and do what they want, and the only way to do this is to convince the men in charge to change the ruling.  The Taliban are resisting this transformation, so I believe that war is necessary.   The author argues that war is hurting the Afghan women more than the clothing, but the fighting is necessary to make the change.  Freedom is earned through blood and sweat, and nothing is gained without some kind of loss.  I think that Laura Bush and American feminists are righteous in their quest for the “saving” of women, as women deserve equal freedom as do men.  This stance is construed as “enthnocentric” in the reading, but I believe it’s a God-given right and must be fought for.  To justify this tyrannous rule as simply a cultural difference is simply the alleviation of our responsibility to assist other humans in their right to freedom.

Video: The Mark of Cain – Alec Lambert

This film was particularly moving, and makes me even more happy to be in America.  Although U.S. prisons can be bad, they don’t seem as barbaric as the Russian prisons depicted in the film.  Many parallels run between the two, such as improvised tattoos, “rank” of criminals based on crime and demeanor, and terrible food.  However, the Russian prisons serve seemingly inhumane food compared to the “Grade D – but approved for human consumption” food that is served in American prisons.  Tattoos carry a lot of meaning in the Russian prison system, which holds true for some American prisons, such as biker and street gangs.  Each system has their own respective “caste” system, the lowest of which are looked upon as less than human beings.  Both systems have labels for those that assist the administration: an American “snitch”is called a “goat” in the Russian prison system.  The thing that separates the two is the level of torture that is tolerated in Russian prisons, which is sickening in nature.  Tattoos for the Russian prisoners define their interests, crimes committed, and status in the criminal world.  The “theif-in-law” is the highest position, looked upon as the godfather.  Ironically, these men with the least regard for human life get Crucifixes tattood for significance.  Another prisoner innovation is the strategy to get the tattoo of Joseph Stalin or Karl Marx, as the prison guards will not shoot a prisoner to execute him with these tattoos.  Prison ingenuity provides a range of items used to communicate, as well as weapons.  These innovations are a result of adaptation to an environment, a significantly human accomplishment that really conveys the beauty of the human mind, even in such a depressive setting.  I liked the movie as it opens my mind to prison life in countries other than the United States, and instills a cautious attitude in myself if I ever find myself in Russia.

Video: Anthropology and It's Subfields

The point of this video is to convey the four aspects of contemporary ethnographic anthropology using John Marshall's film from the 1950's to explain the broadness of the topic.  Cultural, Physical, Archaeological, and Linguistic are the different components of anthropological studies, as demonstrated with the Ju/'hoansi people.  Their ways of living are studied and reported through Marshall's self-immersion into an entirely different culture, and the results of his reporting actually consequentially hurts the tribe due to globalization and greed from those seeking to exploit the naive nature of lesser educated people.  The video discusses results of globalization, such as the spread of information, education, and healthcare.  This change in cultural tides creates conflict almost always, and delineates the backbone of strong different cultures by blending them together.