Unpacking the “culture” argument November 10, 2008
Posted by Krista in Culture/Society, Politics, Web.Tags: Islam, racism, Western Muslims
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I wrote a few weeks ago about the effect of a fictional white character’s Muslim identity on possible constructions and understandings of Islam and Muslim; this week I want to look at a couple non-fictional women in similar positions.
On Open Salon, a network of bloggers, this weekend’s top story was written by Sara O’Connell, an American woman of Irish descent who has been Muslim all her life. (In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not going to engage with her discussion of hijab. I mean that. Yeah, there are things to say about it, but we’ve got enough hijab conversations happening here, and I really don’t want to hear about it in the context of this post. We’ve got other stuff to talk about here.) O’Connell brings up several points related to her Muslim-American identity; among them, she talks about how her own experiences have taught her that, contrary to popular media discourses, gender-based oppression is not inherent to Islam. She claims that “Often times culture and religion is mixed up and some people often assume that backwards customs of a culture are part of a religion, when in fact they are not.”
Following that, O’Connell talks about the history of women being respected and given rights within Islam, starting with the time of the Prophet. She then asks:
“What happened along the way you ask? Culture. In general, Arab and South Asian men have a very dominating outlook when it comes to women and can be very proud and controlling. So when people here hear these stories of honor killings and the abuse of women they assume that it is something from the religion. But it is not, it is all cultural.”
In another article, focusing on a Muslim women’s conference in Pittsburgh, journalist Diana Nelson Jones interviews Karen Traugh, an American (of unspecified ethnic background) who embraced Islam. Jones tells us a similar story:
“She said Muslims in America can find their Islamic core when they are not bound by the conscriptive culture of their homeland.
“When you come to America, you can really examine why it is you wear what you wear,” said Ms. Traugh. In Jordan, the almost-universal look of religious dress is robes buttoned up the front.
“It doesn’t vary much,” she said, and it’s an example of how cultural customs can become as important as or override pure worship.”
Of course, it’s nice to see people emphasis every so often that oppression and dogmatism aren’t inherent to Islam. But what is the cost of this? In cases such as those quoted above, Islam is let off the hook, but in its place, non-Western cultures (particularly Arab and South Asian ones, as in O’Connell’s quote), are identified as the sources of rigidity and backwardness. (I’ve talked about this a bit before, in the comments section of this post.)
There are a number of reasons why this makes me squirm. First, and most obviously, it perpetuates racism against Arab and South Asian communities, justifying such racism because of their supposed inherent sexism. As usual, any alternate, non-oppressive stories from those communities are silenced, as are forms of resistance coming from those communities, as well as any external forces (such as economic issues, war, etc.) that may be exacerbating gender-based oppression and religious dogmatism. Non-Western cultures are painted as unchanging and firmly rooted in the past, incapable of “progressing” the way that Western cultures apparently do, and therefore never worthy of being examined on the same level as European-influenced cultures.
When such judgment comes from within the Muslim community, it comes across as having added validity, due to the inside status of the speaker. Moreover, this is further emphasised when the message is “No, Islam isn’t oppressive; the REAL sources of oppression come from culture” – in other words, the “truth” of the statement is reinforced through its opposition to other messages that people may have heard. Intentionally or not, racial and cultural hierarchies are reproduced among Muslims in a very disturbing way.
I’m also not comfortable with what this says about white/Western cultures. In this dichotomy, the West is imagined as culture-free, a place where people can let go of the constraints of their home countries in favour of an ostensibly “pure” Islam that can only be found through a disavowal of centuries of traditions (many of which have likely served to preserve Islamic beliefs and practices in many parts of the world.) Westerners (particularly white ones) who enter Islam are assumed to come in with no baggage at all. While it is true that people who become Muslim after having been raised in non-Muslim cultures don’t necessarily bring religiously-sanctioned forms of oppression into it with them, it’s a little simplistic to assume that their Islam will remain untainted by their cultural background.
In addition, white Western cultures are, of course, assumed to be somehow free of ingrained patriarchal tendencies. Oppression and violence against women are seen as individual aberrations rather than culturally located, despite the prevalence of domestic violence and other forms of sexism that are found across Western societies. Other forms of oppression that are also endemic in these societies (racism, economic oppression, and so on) are also never taken up, and certainly never addressed as culturally-derived systems. Whiteness and Western identities are reinforced as superior and above the problems that are found in cultures deemed foreign, rigid and violent. In reality, religious dogmatism and religious justifications for gender-based discrimination and oppression can be found in every culture on this planet (or at least, the vast majority. Let me know if you find any exceptions.) None of us should be assuming that our background or our geographic location makes us immune to these forces.
I am sure that neither of the women quoted here had any intention of feeding into systems of racism and white supremacy, but I do think that those of us who identify both as Muslim and as white have a responsibility to recognise the ways that our voices may be interpreted when speaking for the community. In a social context that privileges white voices, is easy to become positioned (or to position ourselves) as “experts” on Islam, or at least as people qualified to speak about Islam and Muslims, and we need to be accountable for what we say. Hierarchies based on racial identity don’t simply vanish because of our religion. Defending Islam against false accusations is crucial; however, it is also essential to ensure that such defences don’t create or reinforce other cultural stereotypes.
You’re absolutely right. As you said we need to defend Islam against false accusations and Islamophobia but the same time not reinforce an inferiority of non-Western cultures. But it is not just White Muslims who are in danger of doing this – non-White Muslims in the West do the same thing, often blaming their culture for not following “true” Islam, whatever their definition of that may be. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard South Asian Muslims speak in a very dismissive manner about their South Asian culture. And although non-Muslim South Asians have done this too, it seems more common among Muslims. Either we are trying to become more Arab, confusing Arab culture for Islam, or we are trying to gain some culture-free form of Islam (one which I argue does not exist in practice) and making that the only part of our identities.
The oppression of Muslims by other Muslims is often reacted to using the ‘It’s not Islam its culture’ line. Muslim aslo often say that we should only teach Islam and not teach our culture as Islam. I do agree with that however there is a difference between normative Islam and descriptive Islam. Normative Islam is the the perfect natural way of life for people that human beings should live to please their creator, or if you don’t believe that you think of normative Islam as something that scholars/mullahs/imams/sheikhs teach as being the ‘true Islam’. Descriptive Islam is what Muslims actually live, so this involves their ethnically specific culture but also their personal and family culture. Culture is defined as patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance so this can apply to individuals as well as groups.
No one lives normative Islam however I wish to learn it and live it as best I can. However there are lots of things that are netural in terms of Islam or are positive like eating when saying Bismillah but are culturally specific like the food you eat. The culture bad, Islam good is such a simple script that many Muslims learn. I however think that Islam is perfect, culture can be good or bad in terms of Islam but in terms of modern societies we should do our best Muslim, or non Muslim to respect and acknowledge different cultures.
The point i think you missed which was made by both quotes is that living in the west has an affect of purification of certain cultural practices of Islam. By that i do not mean that West has a culture any less crap than the east, just look at gangsta rap. But the point is rather that because you are here as a minority the amount of “stupid culture” that you can give to your kids is reduced. And you can’t pass of those backward elements as being “part of Islam” or “islamic”
one example of this is this one (http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/11/france-going-out-with-non-muslims.html)
where the mother makes the remark that even if the man converted he would still be “tainted”.
On a different note, this post reminds me of some discusions that have taken place in muslim circles around the issue of DV or more broadly violence against women. And one of the defenses that are brought up is the “if we talk about it, the islamophobes will use it as ammo”. When the fact of the matter is our motto should be, “If there is a problem, we talk about it, no matter what”
Hmmm…the eternal Catch 22…we take on our social, religious, economic baggage the moment they put clothes on us they day we are born… No escaping that…
I was once told that as a newly converted Muslim I should forget my culture, my past and embrace my new religion and its culture fully- that otherwise I could never be a full Muslim…of course the speaker was a Syrian born Kurd brought up in the USA, who enjoyed his Muslim Chicana’s wife Tex Mex food…go figure.
Personally, I think white sisters can’t win whenever they put pen to paper (or mouth to mic or hand to keyboard), but it’s always the cool whip on the (halal) jello when it’s a fellow white girl or boy giving them the tongue lashing. These people aren’t saying anything that our esteemed Desi and Arab leadership over at ISNA, ICNA, MAS and the rest of them aren’t saying about the crimes against Muslim women perpetrated by Muslim men, often in the name of Islam, in the part of the world that happens to be East. But what? Because they’re white, the fact that they’re blindly parroting the party line is now endowed with all sorts of ominous shadowings of cultural superiority?
I mean, is this nonsense lie better when it’s some Arab dude with a salt and pepper beard saying it on TV? I think we’re all just telling ourselves what we need to hear: it’s not Islam that brings people to this point, it’s something we vaguely define as “culture,” something that existed in our societies “before Islam” which means we just can’t do anything about it… for whatever reason, Islam just hasn’t been enough to eradicate these “cultural practices.”
I don’t know. Isn’t there anything else to do besides take potshots at the white sisters who merrily follow masjid-style conservativism? I’d personally like to see MMW take on some of the more liberal types – of any ethnicity. The Salafis, Wahabis, traditional types and masjid types are so easy to criticize. Why not turn it on our more liberal selves?
ps- I forgot to say that it’s not like I’m not tired of the sort of mundane, mediocre whining, validate me tripe that I read in the two linked articles. I am. I am so sick and tired of this sort of 11th grade writing constantly being paraded by and passed off by our community as the sort of communication that will learn people about Islam and Muslims. I just think it’s pretty easy to take potshots at them, and I get a little tired of the pseudo-revolutionary type of rhetoric about patriarchy and blah blah every time a white person in the community says boo. (And no, I’m not white).
[...] from Muslimah Media Watch examines the potential consequences of the kneejerk defensive reaction many Muslims have of associating every “good” [...]
You know, I agree that in the context of addressing non-Muslims, blaming all the bad stuff on culture is perpetuating stereotypes and racism…also, it ignores local socioeconomic problems, globalization, economic imperialism coming from the West that makes sexism and misogyny worse within various Arab and South Asian cultures, etc., but really, when it comes down to it…the bad stuff…it IS essentially from culture and prioritizing cultural mores above Islamic mores.
I think the audience of this material is the problem, how do these articles fulfill preconcieved notions about Arab/desi manhood, etc. for the non-Muslim white audience? Why does this narrative interest that audience, especially detached from further discussions of how being “Southern” makes it all worse for women.
But really, it IS culture, and I think when we as Muslims discuss these things amongst ourselves and prioritize Islam above culture, it is very beneficial in our localized contexts.
Thanks everyone for the comments, sorry I’ve taken a while to respond.
I agree with what people are saying about how this isn’t exclusively a white thing; a lot of Muslims end up attributing problems to their own cultures (or to other cultures within Islam.) And often there’s truth to that. There really are many cultural practices out there that are harmful to women (or to other groups of people.) But I still think we have to consider *which* cultures are being painted as patriarchal, oppressive and sexist, and which ones are assumed to be good or neutral (often by not being mentioned at all.)
To those who are saying, “well, everyone says these things, why are you picking on the white people?”: First of all, it’s an issue of power. White voices are privileged within our society, and these voices often have more power than non-white perspectives to affect the way that certain cultural groups are seen. This only becomes more intense when the cultural group to which the speaker belongs is let off the hook. White people who hear these comments are led to believe that those “other” people are violent and backwards, without ever having to look critically at their own culture.
It also plays into a long history of Orientalist representations. European cultures have, for a long time, depicted the “East” as a place of barbarity and savagery. These images still have insane amounts of power (see other MMW articles for evidence), and it makes me really uncomfortable to see these forms of racism reproduced among Muslims. Especially disturbing is that these images are so ingrained in many people that they don’t realise how problematic it is to reproduce them.
@ Sobia:
I agree that Arab culture often gets conflated with Islam, which has its own set of problems! I would also agree that “culture-free” Islam doesn’t exist in practice, and I don’t think it was ever meant to exist outside of culture. And as Celeritas mentioned, culture isn’t necessarily harmful.
@ Asmaa:
See my above comment for why I still think it’s different when white sisters say some of these things. I would also disagree that white Muslims are always criticised for saying these things; in my experience, I definitely don’t think they get called on these things enough. And these aren’t potshots; even if I’m singling out two specific comments, this phenomenon is widespread, and I really think that white privilege in Muslim communities does not get questioned nearly enough. To add context to this, I (as a white person) am involved with some anti-racist organising in non-Muslim circles as well, and I think it’s a general thing that white people need to be more aware of what they say. I just happen to be talking about the Muslim context right now.
And I *totally* hear you on the “mundane, mediocre whining, validate me tripe” that’s out there. Even worse is being asked to contribute to that stuff! And then people are surprised when I tell them that it’s personal and I don’t want to give them a long, dramatic story of my experiences… Ugh.
[...] week on MMW, we cast a skeptical eye at the “culture” argument, called Raheel Raza out on her fear mongering, applauded a decent news story for once!, gave [...]
I knew a white Muslim convert once who *hated* born-and-brought-up-Muslim South Asians, regarding them as “shame to Islam” because of it being more of a cultural identity than a religious ideology for (most of) them (in the local community). He even routinely called them “Pakis” (which is a serious racist slur in the UK, though i’m aware that there are other parts of the English-speaking world where it’s less so). He used the “it’s culture, not Islam” line about violence to women and children (while spouting a whole heap of patronisingly “chivalrous” patriarchal crap himself).
Looking back, he was a weird mirror of my (roughly Pentecostal/fundie-Baptist-flavoured) Christian self at the time, particularly the way he despised those who were born and brought up in the religion rather than converted to it, parallelling how the fundie Christian church i spent most of my teens in regarded Catholics and Anglicans.
I think a very important point that can’t be made too often is that “culture” is not immutable. Everyone within a community has the capability to redefine its “culture”…
[...] it than that of immigrant muslims or muslims in other countries is a very pernicious conceit that was exploded very well in Muslimah Media Watch a while [...]
[...] Krista of Muslimah Media Watch calls out western (especially white ones) sisters for upholding supremist idealogies, it’s still us vs. them. “Whiteness and Western identities are reinforced as superior and above the problems that are found in cultures deemed foreign, rigid and violent.” Unpacking the “Culture” Argument [...]
I agree with the gist of what you are saying: Not to perpetuate or worsen some stereotypes by the way we defend other stereotypes. It’s really such a sticky situation. When I became a Muslim it never occurred to me that I would be viewed as a voice that represents the whole religion, and I certainly never expected to be put on the spot where I would be compelled to “defend” it as a whole. Sure, I expected people to criticize me for my choices, but then nine-eleven happened when I was just a wobbly infant in my Islamic knowledge. It was then that the weight of my responsibility hit me, and I felt so inadequate, unprepared and to stand up and deliver the task. I still don’t feel qualified to do this, and I worry all the time about doing just what you said; exaccerbating existing stereotypes, or creating new ones. *sigh* May Allah have mercy on me, and guide me towards the right, and protect me from making mortal mistakes.
[...] of us converts thought was going to happen after we said shahahda did not happen. Many of our jilhaliya baggage remains, both individually and culturally. Often, even when we insist that we are free of such [...]
[...] Muslimah Media Watch – Unpacking the “Culture” Argument I’m also not comfortable with what this says about white/Western cultures. In this dichotomy, the West is imagined as culture-free, a place where people can let go of the constraints of their home countries in favour of an ostensibly “pure” Islam that can only be found through a disavowal of centuries of traditions (many of which have likely served to preserve Islamic beliefs and practices in many parts of the world.) Westerners (particularly white ones) who enter Islam are assumed to come in with no baggage at all. While it is true that people who become Muslim after having been raised in non-Muslim cultures don’t necessarily bring religiously-sanctioned forms of oppression into it with them, it’s a little simplistic to assume that their Islam will remain untainted by their cultural background. [...]