Maria Khan

Censorship in South Asia: Cultural Regulation from Sedition to Seduction

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Edited by Raminder Kaur, William Mazzarella

There is no use in burying the head of an ostrich in censorship and imagining the enemy knows nothing of what we are doing. — S.C. Lind

Censorship in South Asia dissects the history and socio-political dynamics of censorship in India, which have been transcribed into the public culture of the South Asian society over the years. The book digs deep into all forms of formal, state censorship, as well as unofficial censorship tactics that are employed by political and pressure groups—from blackening out images and words from advertising and cinema to street politics and political communication. The popular response to books like Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and films like Deepa Mehta’s Fire and Water show the way censorship has left its traces on everything that goes away from the tide.

The book further explores how censorship has not only shaped the public culture, but has also given a more vivid definition to its adversary: publicity. Censorship as an organized activity has one too many actors and Censorship in South Asia examines the intentions and outcomes of these actors’ anxieties over a free press. Yet, the essays also emphasize another essential agent caught within the web of censorship: the media's call for liberalism and free speech. Despite the board of censorship’s continual attempts to control free speech, in one way or another, information does leak.

The process of censorship is not necessarily a smooth one, and controlling the liquid nature of the press can be a hard task. Censorship in South Asia traces the genealogy of censorship through time to reveal its ever-contested presence in Indian cinema and beyond.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, November 1st 2009

Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:53:00 +0000

By Marnia Lazreg

Princeton University Press

We are not [wo] men for whom it is a question of either-or. For us, the problem is not to make a utopian and sterile attempt to repeat the past, but go beyond it. _ — Aime Cesaire, _Discourse on Colonialism

These are the words that begin the autobiographical journey Questioning the Veil, where Marnia Lazreg, an Algerian-American professor of sociology at the City University of New York, touches on one of the most sensitive strings of Islam, the hijab.

Is veiling mandatory for all Muslim women or is it a cultural, political, or a social practice? Lazreg presents her research in the form of a collection of letters, where each letter analyzes interviews with several Muslim women combined with Lazreg’s personal experiences growing up in a Muslim family. From modesty and sexual harassment to cultural identity, Lazreg distills the very many explanations used in adorning the veil to deconstruct its religious substantiation.

Lazreg further analyzes modesty and its association with the veiling practice. She poses questions: if modesty is a prime explanation given for wearing the veil, would a woman who does not wear a veil, but dresses conservatively be considered immodest? Similarly, what if a woman wears the veil, but is immodest in her mannerisms. As more and more prepubescent girls are being made to wear the veil based on the notion of modesty, Lazreg points out some of the mind-boggling questions that had disturbed her back in the days when she was coerced to adorn the veil upon reaching puberty.

As a child, Lazreg often questioned the partial adoption of the veil amongst the global Muslim women. As she grew older and sexual harassment was revealed to be another factor leading to the hijab, she often questioned the men who continued to harass women wrapped up in hijabs.

From the ‘reveiling’ trend in the West to the imposition of veiling laws in Islamic countries, Lazreg reveals how coercion more often than choice or faith ultimately results in veiling. Yet, using the veil to strike against anti-Muslim prejudice in the West or rejuvenate the Muslim civilization is not a means to women’s liberation. Ultimately, Lazreg’s research depicts how the practice of veiling is constructed out of reasons external to what a Muslim woman really wants to do. Until states mandate veiling by law, as in the Islamic Republic of Iran, or prohibit veiling by law, as in France, Muslim women will never realize the meaning of autonomy and choice. Their human rights will remain marginalized.

Wearing the veil is not the triumph of Islam over its detractors. At the present historical conjuncture, it degrades Islam to the level of a creed and impoverishes its humanistic import. This is time for women to free themselves of it and by the same token free men, too.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, October 17th 2009

Inside The Koran

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Directed by Anthony Thomas

First Run Features

Inside the Koran is an excellent insight into Islam through the interpretations of a vast category of people from ayatollahs, clerics, and scholars to farmers, activists, housewives, and modern Muslim women. In a day and age when wars have become the universal circus at play on the bandwagon of religion, a deeper knowledge of the Muslim faith is more relevant than ever before.

From the practice of veiling and the debate on the status of women to the permissibility of jihad, Inside the Koran provides a deeper overview on these subjects by aligning the differing views together into one message: Islam speaks for peace and forgiveness and grants an equal status to women and men alike. "And if you punish, let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong that has been done to you; but if you show patience, that is indeed the best course” (Quran 16:126).

A beautiful scene from the film depicts a Muslim woman’s desire to wear the hijab despite her mother’s refusal to accept the veil as a commandment of the religion. This example of conflicting opinions highlights the importance of tolerance and respect, as is repeatedly quoted in the Koran: "There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way” (Quran 2:256).

The film also highlights another highly significant element of Islam: it is a religion devoid of priests and pastors. Hence, clerics and fundamentalists who continue to preach their own version of Islam are in no way doing justice to the religion. All are equal in God’s way, be it a man or a woman, a farmer or a cleric. “Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed to you, Muhammad), and those who are Jews and Christians and Sabaeans; whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does right, surely their reward is with their Lord, and there will come no fear upon them neither will they grieve” (Quran 2:62).

Director Antony Thomas investigates how Islam’s teachings in the Koran are very tactfully being employed by nations and powerful leaders alike to further their own political, cultural, and social norms. He explores the branches within the religion—including the Wahabi, Sunni and Shia Islam, as well as Sufism—and very simply merges the similarities and differences within these divisions through the voices of the people themselves. From an ordinary Egyptian woman to several notable scholars, Inside the Koran unveils the beliefs of ordinary Muslims who firmly believe in co-existence and tolerance of all.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, September 19th 2009

East of the Sun

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0000

By Julia Gregson

Touchstone

East of the Sun follows the journey of three young women and their quest for love, life, and self-discovery in the autumn of 1928. The story begins in London with Viva Holloway, an orphan and aspiring writer who takes on the responsibility of chaperoning three young adults—Rose, Tor and Guy—in traveling to India. Upon receiving word of a trunk belonging to her late parents resting with a family friend in Simla, Viva embarks on this journey to fill the missing blanks of her childhood in India, and ultimately gain control of her life.

Rose is a naive, beautiful, young girl who is soon to be married to Jack Chandler, a cavalry officer in India. As we follow her voyage, we discover many facets of her personality, which unfold one by one as she discovers her life and its many shades of grey. As she boards Kaiser-i-Hind, the ship that takes her to India, Rose feels a mix of anxiousness in marrying a man she barely knows, and sadness as she leaves behind her beloved parents. Will Rose discover love or heartbreak? We follow her as she grows into a woman and endures life’s not-so-happy surprises.

Victoria “Tor” Sowerby, Rose’s best friend and bridesmaid, is the complete opposite of Rose. Despite her persistence to settle down with an eligible suitor, she lacks self-esteem, which is complemented by her mother’s constant criticism of her body image. For Tor, the journey to India is an escape from her overpowering mother and a quest to find the love of her life. Tor’s emotions are more public than any of the other characters depicted in the story and that is what makes her the most interesting character to observe. Will she find love that lasts or will she have to return back home alone?

Gregson carves a beautiful journey of the lives of three passionate women, each wanting their own share of fairy tale happiness in life. As the characters develop the story gains complexity yet it retains the innocence with which each of the women began their journey. Throughout the book we witness each characters’ evolution into an individual, and how their friendships never lose ties.

The story combines suspense and thrill to evolve into a drama, which keeps the audience turning pages, while Tor adds the comedic touch to the plot with her flamboyant personality. As the characters cross paths several times in India, we witness violence and hope amidst the end of the British Raj and colonialism, and the start of independence within both the country and the characters.

East of the Sun is an historical fiction novel with a backdrop of Indian culture. As Viva, Rose, and Tor battle the violence within their lives and in a nation wrestling for freedom, every character heals herself, and eventually emerges fresh. The peaceful teachings of Gandhi that are faintly touched on in the story are in line with the book’s ultimate message of love, hope, and resolution.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, September 4th 2009