DOCSLIB.ORG

Gendered Logic(S) of Orientalism: Representation, Discourse, and Intervention in the ‘War on Terror’

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Gendered Logic(S) of Orientalism: Representation, Discourse, and Intervention in the ‘War on Terror’ Gendered Logic(s) of Orientalism: Representation, Discourse, and Intervention in the ‘War on Terror’ Maryam Khalid A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social Sciences Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 2013 Supervised by Dr Penny Griffin and Prof Marc Williams Eighty eight thousand three hundred and eighty (88, 380) words THE UNiVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Khalid First name: Maryam Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: Social Sciences Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: Gendered Logic(s) of Orientalism: Representation, Discourse and Intervention in the 'War on Terror' Abstract: This thesis examines the ways in which representations of orientalised and gendered 'others' are manipulated and deployed in the Bush Administration's 'War on Terror' discourse, enabling military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. International politics is characterised by practices of representation that, through their production of dominant regimes of 'truth' and 'knowledge', work to allow certain possibilities and actions whilst excluding or limiting others. Drawing on poststructural, postcolonial and feminist IR, this thesis identifies and challenges assumptions concerning the apparent naturalness of identities of race, gender and sex and their deployment in official 'War on Terror' discourse. This discourse utilises a range of binaries that situate the 'West' in opposition to the 'East'- for example, good vs. evil, civilised vs. barbaric, rational vs. irrational, progressive vs. backward- and involve the (re)production of mainstream understandings of 'race' and 'gender'. Using a discourse analytic approach, this thesis interrogates such representations using a critical lens based on Edward Said's concept of orientalism. In particular, it is concerned with the ways in which orientalist discourses configure gender and sexual differences, and as such the thesis begins by developing 'gendered orientalism' as the critical lens through which the discursive construction of the 'War on Terror' is unravelled. Tracing the development of US self-identity and its impact on foreign policy, the thesis then demonstrates the US' long-standing engagement with gendered orientalist discourses that shape the discursive construction of the military interventions into Afghanistan and Iraq. Analysing texts produced by the Bush Administration during the 'War on Terror' demonstrates that official representations work to legitimise intervention through the deployment of identity categories that are based on perceived differences in gender, gender roles, and sexuality and a belief that these differences are also rooted in 'race'. The hierarchical organisation of these categories, underpinned by orientalist dichotomies, lend themselves to the construction of narratives in which the US can position itself as the bringer of civilisation, democracy, equality, and security through the violence of the 'War on Terror'. Ultimately, the deployment of these gendered orientalist representations allows the 'War on Terror' and its military interventions to be constructed as unavoidable. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). '' ........... .. Qs~:t~: .. ~.L-<.}!:~( .. z·/ .... · Signaty'fe L/ · Witness Date i The University recognises lhat!_i}gr~ may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and re uire the a roval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: OriginaUty Statement "I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged." 2· Signed ... Date ........ 2oth June 2013 ............. COPVRJ!GHT S1'ATEMEN1r 'I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the dj,gital copy_of my thesis or dissertation.' . r .(//f/. 8 7 Signed "'z;:;· .......... ,, ........... ·····~~-tth ..... .... Date ........... 20 June 2013 .................. .. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT 'I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the ~~~~=~s:~~- ~~~<?kf~:;:J..'.. -~ ................ Date ............ 2~ ~1une 2013 ................. .. ______ Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................... i Published Work............................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 – Introduction .............................................................................. 1 Background, aims, and objectives ............................................................ 1 Research approach ................................................................................. 9 Contribution to knowledge ..................................................................... 14 Scope and limitations ............................................................................ 16 Structure ............................................................................................. 18 Chapter 2 – Orientalism: Theory and Contemporary Application ................. 26 Early orientalism ................................................................................... 28 Said’s orientalism ................................................................................. 32 Critiques, limitations, and application of Said’s work to this thesis ............... 36 ‘American orientalism’ ..................................................................... 41 Race and gender in International Relations and the ‘War on Terror’ ............. 48 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 63 Chapter 3 – Gender and Analytical Strategy ............................................... 64 Research strategy and selection of sources .............................................. 66 ‘Official’ texts ................................................................................. 67 Locating sources ............................................................................. 68 Gendering discourse .............................................................................. 72 Discourse as analytical strategy .............................................................. 75 Discourse: language, identity, power, and representation ................ 77 Developing specific discourse analytic strategies ............................. 84 1) Presupposition, predication, and pre/proscription ................. 86 2) (Re)production ................................................................ 91 3) Deconstruction and juxtaposition ....................................... 94 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 97 Chapter 4 – Gender, Race, ‘Self’, ‘Other’ in Histories of International Intervention ..............................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gender, War and Conflict, INTL 200-02/WMST 276-01 Tuesdays and Thursday 3-4:20, Fellows 203 Denison University, Spring 2007
    Gender, War and Conflict, INTL 200-02/WMST 276-01 Tuesdays and Thursday 3-4:20, Fellows 203 Denison University, Spring 2007 Instructor: Isis Nusair Email: [email protected] Office: Knapp 210C, Phone: x8537 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6 pm Course Description This course aims to make feminist sense of contemporary wars and conflicts. It analyzes the intersections between gender, race, class, and ethnicity in national conflicts. The class traces the gendered processes of defining citizenship, national identity and security, and examines the role of institutions like the military in the construction of femininity and masculinity. The course focuses on the gendered impact of war and conflict through examining torture, mass rape, genocide, and refugee displacement. It analyzes the strategies used by women’s and feminist movements to oppose war and conflict, and the gendered impact of war prevention, peacekeeping, and post-war reconstruction. The class draws on cases from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa. The class is interdisciplinary and gives equal weight to theory and practice while drawing on writings by local and global activists and theorists. Class Requirements Students in addition to reading the course material, attending screening sessions, and participating in class discussion will monitor at least one media outlet and trace the representation of gender, war and conflict. The course requirements also include 2 class presentations, 5 papers, and a final research paper. Papers constitute 50% of the evaluation, the final research paper constitutes 30% of the evaluation, class presentations constitute 10% of the evaluation, and class participation and web-postings constitute 10% of the evaluation.
    [Show full text]
  • Orientalism and Its Challenges: Feminist Critiques of Orientalist Knowledge Production
    ORIENTALISM AND ITS CHALLENGES: FEMINIST CRITIQUES OF ORIENTALIST KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION SAMEHA ALGHAMDI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2020 © Sameha Alghamdi, 2020 ABSTRACT Orientalism has shaped conventional Euro-American epistemologies, approaches and thinking towards non-US/European people. Orientalism, as a set of epistemologies, and approaches has enabled the co- production of multiple violence and imperial domination. The production of Orientalist knowledge is not only an archive; but rather it is still inscribed and alive in much of the knowledges produced about a notion of the Arab world. Problematic and violent portrayals and representations of Arab and Muslim women are inscribed in contemporary knowledge systems. This thesis aims to examine how can feminist critiques of the concept/notion/system of epistemes and approaches about the other of Orientalism open up new ways of understanding knowledge production. In what ways do such insights contribute toward decolonizing the dynamics of Eurocentric knowledge and power relations in literature and representation? This dissertation grapples with a number of feminist critiques of Orientalism in order to theorize and articulate notions of female agency and problematize depictions of passivity, sexuality and dominant gendered systems. Analytically, I concentrate on the work of Edward Said. I draw extensively on different feminist critiques of his work and show how orientalist knowledges and understandings co-construct Orientalism and Eurocentric genealogies of knowledge and power which in turn allow us to understand their role in thinking and understanding Euro-American domination.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist International Relations: a Contradiction in Terms? Or: Why Women and Gender Are Essential to Understanding the World ‘We’ Live In*
    Feminist International Relations: a contradiction in terms? Or: why women and gender are essential to understanding the world ‘we’ live in* GILLIAN YOUNGS† The deliberately blunt and provocative nature of the title of this article is intended to get us right to the heart of the matter: the gulf that continues to exist between what might be called mainstream (‘malestream’ is a term frequently used in feminist critiques) International Relations and feminist International Relations. Feminist International Relations has tended to flourish as a subfield of the main field of International Relations, without much impact on the field as a whole. While it is positive and productive that feminist analysis in the subject thrives—a fact to which the development and growth of a journal like IFjP bears witness1—it is also problematic that the impact of this activity in * This article is part of a collaborative effort between the International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFjP) and International Affairs. The aim is to stimulate productive debate about the nature and contribution of feminist approaches to International Relations. It was decided that we should begin with an overview of the field of feminist International Relations and a series of commentaries on that overview. The plan is then to follow this with articles on specific topic areas in future volumes of International Affairs. What follows in this issue is the beginning of this endeavour: namely, a summary discussion of key issues and trajectories for analysis raised by work in feminist International Relations, and three diverse comments on that summary. The article needs to be read as ‘a’ summary: in other words, it is one perspective and does not make any claims to being ‘the’ definitive or grand narrative assessment of feminist International Relations, which is as rich in its diversity of approaches and subjects as any area of the field.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with Cynthia Enloe
    81 An Interview with Cynthia Enloe The Gendered Dynamics of Foreign Policy ynthia Enloe is a Research Professor of International Development and Wom- en’s Studies at Clark University. She received her Political Science PhD from the CUniversity of California, Berkeley. Among her ten books are Ethnic Soldiers: State Security in Divided Societies; Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics; Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militariz- ing Women’s Lives; and The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire. Her forthcoming book (from the University of California Press) is Nimo’s War, Emma’s War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War. When you spoke at The Fletcher School about the gendered dimen- sions of the Iraq war, you mentioned your time at Berkeley in the 1960s. How did this period shape your career? During most of the 1960s, I was studying for my MA and then my PhD at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley. I spent a summer in college interning in the Department of Agriculture in Washington, where I worked very closely with an Indonesian fisher- ies specialist. I was just a humble gofer, but the fisheries specialist took me under his wing and tried to teach me about the Indonesian revolution against the Dutch. It was all new to me! When I went to Berkeley, I decided to focus on comparative politics, especially in Southeast Asia. I was engaged in the comparative study of revolutions, particularly the Chinese revolution, as well as the study of political theory, such as the ideas of Han- nah Arendt.
    [Show full text]
  • Under Western Eyes Revisited
    “Under Western Eyes” Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles Author(s): Chandra Talpade Mohanty Reviewed work(s): Source: Signs, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Winter 2003), pp. 499-535 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/342914 . Accessed: 06/12/2011 07:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Signs. http://www.jstor.org Chandra Talpade Mohanty “Under Western Eyes” Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles write this essay at the urging of a number of friends and with some trepidation, revisiting the themes and arguments of an essay written I some sixteen years ago. This is a difficult essay to write, and I undertake it hesitantly and with humility—yet feeling that I must do so to take fuller responsibility for my ideas, and perhaps to explain whatever influence they have had on debates in feminist theory. “Under Western Eyes” (1986) was not only my very first “feminist stud- ies” publication; it remains the one that marks my presence in the inter- national feminist community.1 I had barely completed my Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Search for a Coherent and Universal Feminist Theory of International Relations
    THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL The search for a coherent and universal feminist theory of International Relations: a critical assessment. Being a thesis submitted for the degree of PhD Department of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Hull by Fiona Judith Ritchie BA (hons), MA June 2015 Fiona Ritchie 200605652 Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................5-15 Method................................................................................................................................................11-15 Chapter One: Cynthia Enloe - Where are the Women? The Concept of Patriarchy in International Relations Theory....................................................16-74 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................16-19 Early conceptions of patriarchy...............................................................................................19-23 Public and private spheres........................................................................................................24-28 Enloe’s extension of patriarchy to the international......................................................28-32 Enloe on the militarisation of society....................................................................................32-40 Where are the women?................................................................................................................40-45
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist Peace and Conflict Theory Author: Annette Weber 2.500 Words Deadline: 30 April 2006
    Routledge Encyclopaedia on Peace and Conflict Theory Due: Autumn 2006 Title: Feminist Peace and Conflict Theory Author: Annette Weber 2.500 words Deadline: 30 April 2006 Feminist Peace and Conflict Theory The genealogy of feminist peace and conflict theory – naturally – comes as a hybrid phenomenon. Feminist peace and conflict theory (FPCT) is nurtured by a variety of disciplines and methodologies. As is symptomatic for feminist studies, the questioning of normative standards is grounded in women’s epistemology. The silencing of women’s experience and knowledge is discussed in all FPCTs. However the consequences of this silencing and the possible solutions for a change is largely divided in an understanding of essentialist ‘female nature’ and a construction based understanding of gender as a discoursive practice. For a feminist theory on peace the analysis of war and conflict is essential. The variety of approaches range from historical accounts of women in war to the psychological scrutinizing of gendered upbringing of children. Critical writings by women in liberation movements in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as the critique on western feminism by working class, Black and lesbian scholars has further shaped the discussion. Annette Weber – Feminist Peace Theory – Routledge Encyclopaedia 1 28.07.2006 Feminist Peace and Conflict Theory reflects on the need of visibility of women in conflicts and has led to a broader understanding of security issues. FPCT introduced the interconnectedness of all forms of violence: domestic, societal, state based and inter-state and its gendered dimension. It critically discussed the collaboration of the ‘Beautiful Soul’ (Jean Bethke Elshtain, 1987) in the machinery of violence.
    [Show full text]
  • Intellectual Property and the Recognition of Women's Traditional Knowledge
    Women's Work, Women's Knowing: Intellectual Property and the Recognition of Women's Traditional Knowledge Terra L. Gearhart-Sema* ABSTRACT: This Comment inserts a new question into the intellectual property academy's dialogue on traditional knowledge: Where are the women? Political scientist Cynthia Enloe insists that this is the crucial question for any feminist examination of global law and politics, and it is taken up here in order to apply a gendered lens to traditional knowledge-a perspective which, until now, has been largely absent. The Comment identifies the knowledge that women have possessed for generations as a gendered cultural possession deserving of a place in the international intellectual property rights framework. Women should not have to inhabit the largely Western- and male-dominated paradigm of the scientific inventor in order to gain recognition for and avoid exploitation of their knowledge by commercial actors in the international marketplace. However, legal protections for women's traditional knowledge must be extended in keeping with feminist values of equality and dignity; thus the Comment presents principles to be used in deciding how best to bring attention to women's traditional knowledge and applies them to three frameworks of international property rights. Finally, the Comment makes suggestions for future policy goals to further the recognition of women's traditional knowledge. IN TRO DUCTION ................................................................................................ 373 I. INVENTION, INNOVATIVE KNOWLEDGE, AND THE WOMAN OF SCIENCE ..... 374 A. Innovative Knowledge and the Scientific Ideal ............................. 375 B. Women and the Invention Paradigm .............................................. 378 II. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE VALUE OF "WOMEN'S WORK" ...... 380 * University of Pennsylvania, B.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist International Relations: an Unfinished Journey
    This page intentionally left blank Feminist International Relations An Unfinished Journey The impact of feminism on international relations in the past fifteen years has been enormous. In this book Christine Sylvester presents her own career as a journey within the larger journey that scholarly feminism has made in the field of International Relations. The introductory section sets the context of the journey in Interna- tional Relations as a field and in key works by Jean Elshtain, Cynthia Enloe, and Ann Tickner that helped carve out a distinctly feminist International Relations. Twelve of Sylvester’s essays are then grouped in three sections. The first, “Sightings”, features works that reveal the presence and effects of gender in international politics. Next, “Sitings” considers locations where gender can come into International Relations through innovative feminist methodologies. Finally, “Citings” consid- ers a range of contemporary work in feminist International Relations and suggests where the scholarly journey needs to go in the future. This unusual and wide-ranging book will both guide and challenge scholars and students of international relations theory, gender studies, and postcolonial studies. CHRISTINE SYLVESTER is Professor of Women, Gender, Develop- ment at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands. Her publications include Producing Women and Progress in Zimbabwe: Narratives of Identity and Work from the 1980s (2000), Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era (1994), and Zimbabwe: The Terrain of Contradictory Development (1991). CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: 77 Feminist International Relations Editorial Board Steve Smith (Managing editor) Thomas Biersteker Chris Brown Alex Danchev Joseph Grieco A. J. R.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Friends with the Beast?’ Reflections on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
    16 KVINDER, KØN & FORSKNING NR. 2 2013 ‘Making Friends with the Beast?’ Reflections on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda BY ROBIN MAY SCHOTT At a recent reception, UN Res. 1325 is a revolutionary a friend at the Danish Institute for Human transformation of rhetoric Rights was taking leave of her colleagues to regarding issues of women, peace, start a new position at the Danish Ministry and security. In the last dozen years, of Foreign Affairs. She spoke of her feelings about moving to the Ministry from the there has been a proliferation of Institute, where she had worked for fifteen debates about its successes and its years as an expert on human rights, and failures. Should its limitations be recalled an experience from her girlhood. understood as failures in implemen - As any girl who rides horses knows, she related, there was always the big beast tation? Or should the concepts of which only the riding instructor had women, gender, and violence which permission to ride. Then the day came frame the resolution be critically when she too was allowed to take out the big horse. She found that he liked her challenged? carrots and was actually a nice guy. In fact, she could even begin to make friends with the beast – a useful image for her as she was taking up her new position at the Ministry. It struck me that this image is also useful in conveying some of the dilemmas faced by feminists, both NGO activists and aca-demic feminists, in assessing advances made within the United Nations system ‘MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE BEAST’ 17 with regard to the agenda known as women held peace talks, would it make a Women, Peace and Security.
    [Show full text]
  • Masculinities, IR and the 'Gender Variable': a Cost-Benefit Analysis For
    Review of International Studies (1999), 25, 475–491 Copyright © British International Studies Association Masculinities, IR and the ‘gender variable’: a cost-benefit analysis for (sympathetic) gender sceptics CHARLOTTE HOOPER1 Abstract. While it is commonplace to argue that international relations reflects a ‘masculinist’ world of men, this article reverses the argument and asks whether international relations might also discipline men and help produce masculinities. In thinking through this question, the article provides an alternative route to understanding the feminist argument that the ‘gender variable’ cannot simply be added to mainstream analysis. By drawing attention to the epistemological and methodological problems which would arise even with empirically oriented research on the subject, the limitations of mainstream approaches to this hitherto largely neglected area of research are highlighted, and alternatives suggested. Introduction One point feminist contributors to IR have made on numerous occasions, and which even sympathetic mainstream academics seem particularly resistant to, is the idea that gender cannot just be grafted onto existing explanatory approaches which are profoundly ‘masculinist’. An adequate analysis of gender requires more radical changes, including an ontological and epistemological revolution.2 In arguing this, feminists have tried to counter the naive approach to gender which argues along the following lines: if international relations marginalises both women and the feminine, then why can’t women and the
    [Show full text]
  • Gender in International Relations Gender in International Relations Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security
    Gender in International Relations Gender in International Relations Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security J. Ann Tickner New York Columbia University Press 1992 Bibliographic Data To Joan, Heather, and Wendy --feminists for the future Preface 1. Engendered Insecurities 2. Man, the State, and War: Gendered Perspectives on National Security 3. Three Models of Man: Gendered Perspectives on Global Economic Security 4. Man over Nature: Gendered Perspectives on Ecological Security 5. Toward a Nongendered Perspective on Global Security Bibliography [an error occurred while processing this directive] http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/index.html (1 of 2) [8/11/2002 5:12:37 PM] Gender in International Relations Pagination http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/index.html (2 of 2) [8/11/2002 5:12:37 PM] Gender in International Relations: Preface Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security, by J. Ann Tickner Preface As a scholar and teacher of international relations, I have frequently asked myself the following questions: Why are there so few women in my discipline? If I teach the field as it is conventionally defined, why are there so few readings by women to assign to my students? Why is the subject matter of my discipline so distant from women's lived experiences? Why have women been conspicuous only by their absence in the worlds of diplomacy and military and foreign policy-making? I began to think about writing this book as an attempt to answer these questions. Having spent my childhood in London during World War II and my adolescence in New York as part of a United Nations' family, international affairs were an important part of my early life.
    [Show full text]