Abstract
Historically, Afghan women have been portrayed as passive and defenseless racialized “others” in great need of liberation from the west. This hegemonic construct of the Islamic female who needs to be rescued was one of the main justifications for the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. This study examines the role of Afghan mothers with no formal education in facilitating and smoothening the way for their daughters and other young girls to be the first generation of women to attend school. The study draws on 18 in-depth qualitative interviews with uneducated mothers in Kandahar, a southern province of Afghanistan that was the battlefield for the Taliban and American forces for over twenty years. The findings illustrate that Afghan women negotiate space for the younger generation of females while being caught in the nexus between western military intervention, conservative culture, deteriorating security, and poor economy. Applying Foucault’s concept of power and Crenshaw’s framework of intersectionality in the context of Afghanistan, I argue that while Afghan women experience structural and systemic oppression at the intersection of Western imperialism and cultural barriers, contrary to the Western depiction of racialized Muslim women, Afghan women claim their rights by strategically and silently resisting the subordination and oppression that have been forced upon them for generations.
Presenters
Neela HassanResearch Assistant and Teaching assistant , Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Gender Race Muslim Women Conflict Education Intersectionality Afghanistan
