World View

In his book, The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach, David Eickelman discusses a number of aspects of Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. He delves into concepts such as village life, pastoral nomadism, the idea of kinship, marriage, ect. However, the chapters that contain information pertinent to my studies/interests for this capstone are chapter 8 and chapter 9. The first of which deals with sexuality and the perceived differences between men and women in Muslim culture, and the second of which discusses the concept of a "worldview." Although he gives specific examples of how such things are applied or appear in certain areas, he also discusses both issues with respect to Muslim culture in general. It is within this context that such notions are applicable to my paper since all of the authors I have chosen come from a Muslim background.


Chapter 8: Change in Political Ideologies: Self, Gender, and Ethnicity

* "Status can mean the formal rights and obligations of a person, as a citizen or subject as enacted by law. It can also mean religious or normative prescriptions that, although they may not have the force of law, are difficult to transgress in public or conventional and accepted ways of comportment. The status of women is closely tied to gender roles, but is also linked [...] to issues of national identity, family law, Islamic and 'international' views on human rights, employment opportunities, and education" (186).

* "Of course, legal reforms do not necessarily change social practice, although they reflect the changing values of legislators or rulers" (188).

• Although laws may say/require certain actions, those actions may not be put into practice by society. Although women may technically have certain legal rights, often they are incapable of exercising those rights due to societal pressure. For example, legally women can now drive in Saudi Arabia, however it is still considered to be extremely socially unacceptable, so almost no women do.

* "The ideological conventions concerning women and gender vary considerably throughout Middle Eastern and Central Asian societies. There is no single Islamic view..." (193).

* "Your women are your field, so act upon your field as you wish (Sura 2, "The Cow," verse 223)" (193)

• Quranic verse used by some Muslims to justify the beating and mistreatment of women

* "Men watch over women because God has preferred some of you over others and because (men) support them from their means... And if they challenge you, (first) caution them, (then) confine them to their (sleeping) couches, and (finally) beat them (if necessary). But do not treat them unjustly. (Sura 4, "Women," verse 34)" (194)

• Another Quranic verse used to justify the mistreatment of women
  

Chapter 9: The Cultural Order of Complex Societies

* World view: "shared symbolic representations concerning the nature of the social world " (222)
* "Notions of worldview overlap and build upon more specific conceptions such as family, community, ethnicity, and sexuality but differ in that they are more integrative and comprehensive" (222).

* "The more ambitious aspect of contemporary analysis of worldview is that they seek to articulate those taken-for-granted attitudes and values that make everyday social action possible, shared understandings that are so deeply rooted that they flow almost automatically. Yet these shared understandings do not exist independently of the situations in which they are used. Individuals control how symbolic representations are interpreted, and in doing so, they shape the symbolic representations"(224).

* "These assumptions, which are considered 'natural' and not 'conventional,' are constructed and transformed through social practice and made up of everyday, incompletely systemized, common-sense understandings of how the world 'really' is. Under ordinary conditions these basic assumptions for the implicit background against which social action is planned and carried out, even though they are not fully articulated by members of society. Special frames of reference, such as formal religious ideologies, specialized knowledge of commerce and crafts, medicine, political strategies, and the interpretation of dreams, are elaborated against the background of such understandings" (224).

* "If the ideal qualities of men in this system are to be honorable, assertive, proud, generous, and fearless; women are modest, shy, deferential, and self-restrained. They are socialized into a modesty code that emphasizes 'self-restraint and effacement'. Women can also be assertive , honorable, proud, and generous, but not in interactions with men. They are expected to defer to those in authority, and this deference, or modesty, is the honor of the weak. Honor for women necessarily entails being the wards and dependants of men" (243).

Sources:

Eickelman, Dale E. The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach. 3rd ed. New Jersey: .......Prentice-Hall, 1998. Print