Religion, gender, and colonialism are intricately
interwoven, and neglecting this interconnection risks perpetuating the enduring
effects of oppressive colonial rule experienced by women. Their collective work
meticulously exposes the overlapping biases against religion, women, and
non-Western perspectives within the realms of women's studies, religious
studies, and postcolonial studies. With diverse cultural backgrounds, a
multi-religious focus, and a range of theoretical approaches, their collection
forms a rich tapestry that resists any attempt at a singular feminist
postcolonial religious viewpoint.
Despite this diversity, a common thread unites the essays:
the question of whether the subaltern, particularly the subaltern woman within
religious contexts, can find her voice. Drawing from Spivak's influential
query, the authors collectively explore the historical agency and resistance
displayed by subaltern women. Yet, they contend that Western feminist thinkers
often fail to acknowledge this agency—a phenomenon Donaldson terms "the
refusal of subject status to the oppressed." She critiques the
"sanctioned ignorance" within academic feminist discourse regarding
Native American women, advocating for a decolonized reading of both indigenous
and non-native sources to unearth the partial testimonies of native women's
agency.
Kwok's essay hones in on Mary Daly's critique of Chinese
foot-binding, revealing how Western feminist perspectives can sometimes paint a
misleading picture of "white women saving brown women from brown
men." Kwok counters this by demonstrating that patriarky, even in its most
oppressive forms, does not render its victims entirely voiceless and powerless.
She provides historical examples of Chinese women actively resisting
foot-binding, including their collaboration with the Chinese missionary church,
despite its patriarkal structure. Kwok's work challenges First-World feminism,
exposing its tendency towards Orientalism and its oversimplification of
Third-World women's experiences.
Yegenoglu employs Focault's insights to analyze the veiled
body in Islam, revealing that Muslim women's bodies are similarly subject to
the shaping forces of power, just as Western women's bodies are influenced by
societal norms. She dismantles the Western feminist narrative that paints
Eastern women as passive victims in need of liberation, emphasizing that both
contexts involve complex power dynamics. Dube highlights the multifaceted
expression of subaltern voices in the Two-Thirds World, particularly in Africa.
She illustrates how African women have drawn on indigenous religio-cultural
traditions, decimated by colonial Christianization, to empower themselves.
Simultaneously, they have carved out spaces of resistance within the African
Christian church.
Drawing on Patton's research, a parallel situation emerges
for women Sanskritists in India, who have forged a nuanced hybrid space of
postcolonial empowerment and spirituality through their specialized study of
elite texts.
Miriam Cooke and M. Shawn Copeland illuminate a crucial
theme: that religious feminism is far from an "oxymoron". Cooke
scrutinizes the emergence of Islamic feminism, a movement deeply committed to
both religious faith and pro-women activism. This development counters the
prevailing bias in secular Western feminism, which often dismisses the
possibility of advocating for women's rights within patriarchal religious
frameworks. Muslim feminists who choose to adhere to traditional head coverings
or attire in line with Islamic principles are frequently labeled as victims of
patriarchy by Western feminist perspectives. Nevertheless, they persist in
asserting their right to navigate this complex and often conflicting space of
belonging and resistance within Islam.
Copeland bears witness to the potential of religious
feminism in her essay, tracing the historical colonization of black women's
bodies by various sectors of society, both white and black, including within
the black church itself. Through a womanist theological lens, Copeland responds
to the dual oppressions of sexism and racism stemming from slavery, as well as the
misogynistic messages prevalent in rap music and the black film industry. Her
response involves the reclamation of the black sermon as a decolonizing tool,
aimed at reclaiming the black church as a sanctuary for African American
women—a space of empowerment, social change, and hope.
Laura Levitt's examination of Judaism in Napoleonic France
effectively extends the arguments presented in the editors' introductory essay,
underlining the imperative need to analyze the interconnected dynamics of
gender, religion, and colonialism as a unified "trilogy”. This volume,
with its multidisciplinary approach and global perspective, sets a high
standard for future scholarship on this multifaceted subject matter. It
particularly calls on Western white feminists to engage in greater
self-reflection regarding their own biases.
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