Thoughts on MANA conference December 3, 2008
Posted by Faith in Events.Tags: MANA
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Before I begin. I just want to apologize for getting this post up late. Travelling always takes a lot out of me, especially when travelling on train.
This past weekend, I went to the second annual Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) conference in Philadelphia. I did a lot of vending with my husband this time around, so I didn’t get a chance to go to as many workshops. However, I did manage to get into a couple. One thing that struck me about a couple of the workshops is that they both had “unveiling” in the title of workshops relating to women. One was actually a play about Muslim women (which I attended and will discuss in more detail later) and the other was titled “Unveiling The Truth” (which I did not attend). The latter workshop was for sisters only and in the program booklet, the summary is as follows: “All the Questions you’ve ever had about relationships, your rights and your body and were too afraid to ask.” I was surprised at the references to “unveiling” since they carry such Orientalist overtones. I know that “unveiling” could simply refer to getting to the essence of something but considering male fantasies about undressing Muslim women, “unveiling” Muslim women always carries a lot of connotations.
The play I saw “Unveiled: the Life of Muslim Women” relied heavily on this metaphor. The play wasn’t listed in the program booklet, but was announced on loudspeakers. As I walked to the room where the play was being held, I saw a sign advertising it and read in the description that it was about women in hijab. At this moment I became disappointed because I felt that once again, Muslim women were being described as women who cover only. I decided to go anyway. I thought, “well, maybe the writers thought ‘women in hijab need to be portrayed in more nuanced ways.’” As I went in, the play was already in session and two women were in the middle of sketch. One woman was speaking about not being oppressed because she wears hijab. The next woman in the sketch spoke what appeared to be a poem that had all of the cliched defenses of hijab: how hijab makes her feel protected and lets men know her worth, how she doesn’t have to worry about her body image or succumb to eating disorders because of her hijab, etc. The eating disorder part really disappointed me, because there are Muslimahs with eating disorders and Muslimahs who deal with body image issues. Also, I just felt like, “Can’t we defend women’s right to wear hijab without accusing non-Muslims of being shallow, body-obsessesed maniacs and without making it seem that hijab makes you into super woman!?”
While that sketch left me a bit sour, I did like some others. One sketch was based on a story by Mohja Kahf and featured a Syrian woman who has just immigrated to the U.S. and longs for home. She finds bit of home in the most unlikely of people: a group of hippie women and one man who embrace all religions, burn incense, and eat hummus. It was humorous, it was personal, and by the end of the sketch, I felt good, too. Another sketch that I found poignant was a sketch called “Secrets,” where four women speak about having to keep silent about domestic violence, the stress of being a stay-at-home mom, and feelings about being a co-wife. You could feel the pain of women who felt that they had no outlet for their grievances. I especially liked this sketch because it focused on how Muslim women are often forced to not to speak on legitimate concerns and forced to maintain a facade while bottling up emotional pain.
The rest of the conference seemed to run smoothly. However, there did seem to be more gender segregation at this conference than at last year’s conference. For instance, some of the security team tried to keep men and women segregated outside the ballroom where the jumu’ah salat was made. Additionally, a partition was set up in the main prayer area on the second day of the conference, even though it wasn’t there on the first day. I’m not sure why this occurred. I would imagine that some complaints were made to MANA by men and women who weren’t comfortable with a partition not being set up. However, it did make me feel uncomfortable and I will write to MANA expressing my concern on this issue.
No need to apologize! :D
Thanks for writing about this. I didn’t know a lot about the MANA conference, and it’s interesting to see your take on it. Have you ever been to any ISNA conferences? What are your takes on those?
The gender segregation thing is pretty interesting, too. I wonder if this is a trend.
ASA, I’m not surprised by the separation considering that it’s in Philly which has a large Salafi community. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this year. Last year I had a good time.
The “veil” cliche really has got to go!
I enjoy all your post, I personally did not enjoy Mana actually i didnt even stay after the fact that I spoke to about 6 sisters and know onw gave sallaams back. So Me and my sister left I dont think I would go back again next year and we had free tickets. Also we are not supposed to pray with the men, you dont pray with them at the masjid so im a little confused why this would be upsetting?
@Haleemah:
Many Muslims believe it is fine to pray with the men. I’ve been to mosques/gathering where men and women pray in the same room. So this is not the case across the board.
You should check out the documentary “Me and the Mosque.”
This is part one of 6.
Salaam and ‘Eid Mubarak to you all!
@ Fatemeh: I’ve only been to one event sponsored by ISNA but it wasn’t their main conference. It was an education summit and I liked it. I thought it was pretty productive.
@Jamerican: Yeah, the Salafi presence this time around was pretty big. My husband got into a bit of a heated exchange with a security guard who I’m pretty certain was a Salafi. He was upset that my husband was looking for me in the “sisters” area outside the hall where the jumu’ah took place. Bizaare!
@musicalchef: ITA!
@Haleemah: I’m not sure what you mean by we are not suppose to pray with men. During the first day of the conference, women weren’t praying with men but praying about 3-5 feet behind them. The second day a partition went up.
@Sobia: Thanks for the link!
The lack of separation at MANA, ISNA and ICNA is one of the main reasons that keeps me away from them. I will never understand this new trend of Muslimahs obsessed with being in close quarters with the brothers.
@Tulip:
As a Muslimah who is “obsessed” with being in close quarters with Muslim men let me try an explain why, for me at least.
- This is not a new trend. Men and women prayed in the same room, without any barriers, during the Prophet’s time and in his mosque. Something that started 1500 years ago cannot be called new.
- Personally, I feel there is nothing immodest or un-Islamic about being in “close quarters” with men. I grew up in a small Muslim community and we had no choice but to pray in “close quarters” – ie in the same room. There were no barriers and no problems. Muslimahs like myself who are “obsessed” have seen this system work very well and successfully Alhumdollilahf.
- Many Muslimahs, like myself, feel like being separated in such a harsh manner so as to have physical barriers between men and women otherizes us and inferiorizes us. If things really were egalitarian then the Imam should take turns speaking – one time in the men’s section, then next time in the women’s. The men’s section gets all the “knowledge” and the women’s get noisy children. This doesn’t seem fair to women like myself.
To other women the benefits outweigh the problems – to women like me, the problems outweigh the benefits.
@Faith:
“Also, I just felt like, ‘Can’t we defend women’s right to wear hijab without accusing non-Muslims of being shallow, body-obsessesed maniacs and without making it seem that hijab makes you into super woman!?’”
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY, WORD-FOR-WORD. This kind of stereotyping not only makes non-hijabi Muslim women out to be like those “slutty westerners” (further reinforcing that absurd stereotype), but also is not true to the reality of wearing hijab at all. As a hijabi, I can say I feel suffocated by this assumption that hijabis are superhuman. We as Muslims are so obsessed with trying to defend hijab before non-Muslims, that we fail to address the de-humanizing views that exist in our own community towards both hijabis and non-hijabis.
I’m surprised MANA was as segregated as ISNA and ICNA. I’ve been to the latter two, but not yet to MANA. I assumed that since ISNA/ICNA are mainly run by immigrant Muslims, that they would be far more strict about segregation than indigenous-Muslim-run MANA. Maybe this is my ignorance, but I’ve generally been under the impression that aside from the pockets of Salafi influence, the indigenous Muslim community is generally more secure with itself when it comes to these issues and therefore not as segregation-obsessed. But perhaps it occurred this time because the conf was in Philly, where having lived there I know the Salafi influence is very strong.
@Sobia:
Great responses to the gender segregation issue.