2º Annotation

 SUPPORT TO MY ARGUMENT: YES, THERE ARE INCONSISTENCIES . 

Jessica Villaseñor 

100409908 

Article:Egypt: Crisis of identity

In this article from the BBC, the author Roger Hardy points out the current contradictions in the Egyptian society. He reviews the recent history in the country in order to understand the feelings of the society and its "crisis of identity" as the called it. 

In contrast to Nabila Ramdani, the author of the article I presented in the first annotation, this author shows more understanding of the cultural implication when writing about the topic. First, he mentions that the signals of modernity are undoubtedly present in Egypt, such as telecommunications. He supports this idea after explaining the fragmentation of society into different groups with different solutions. Some of them had been trying to approach to the West, others had done a reinterpretation of the Koran (the holy book of Islam) “in the light of modern conditions” (Hardy, 2002), but others had concluded that Islam has to fight and win new battles. Therefore, with this previous explanation is it clear the author’s point of view about the crisis of identity.

This article supports my argument about the incongruence of the real Egyptian identity and the government they had before the Revolution in 2011. He  gives us as well a context of the struggle they live in the pursuit of their identity trough a no bias explanation. 

Article: What caused the Revolution in Egypt?

This article from The Guardian written by Duncan Green seeks for the reasons of disconformities of Egyptian people that may have led to the Revolution in last year. He mentions the demographic boom and insufficient employment, the raise in food in food prices, the lack of democratization and the foreign policy. But for the purpose of my research I will focus only in this last one.

As Green (2011) says “the foreign policy had …divorced from public opinion for many years” , he let us comprehend the disagreement between the voice of society, the free media and the government that led to “the erosion of legitimacy”. Even though Egypt is an Arab country, it got far from the rest of them, and its foreign policy didn´t support them is the international scenario.  

Since a Revolution is a large-scale event, I cannot say that foreign policy and the delegitimization of the State are the main causes for it. But for, sure, as the author says is one of the causes.

Concept: Legitimacy 

Lipset’s definition of Legitimacy involves the belief that the exiting political institutions are the most appropriate one for the society” and Easton’s definition is “the conviction on the part of the member that it is right and proper…to accept and obey the authorities” (cited in Stillman, 1974) help us to better understand the political language used in the articles above.

References

-Green, D. (17 de february de 2011). What caused the Revolution in Egypt? The Guardian.Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/feb/17/what-caused-egyptian-revolution

-Hardy, R. (16 de july de 2002). Obtenido de BBC News.

-Stillman, P. (1974). The concept of Legitimacy. Polity, 32-56.Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3234268?seq=1

1º annotation. Revised version

First annotation: Revised version
Jessica Villaseñor 10040908

Going deeper with the Muslim Egyptian women understanding. Some key definitions to better understand the topic.

First at all and because is a core concept in my research, I must give a clear definition about what veil is. Hijab is the general depict the dressing and veil between Muslim women. Hijab comes from the Arab word Habana, which means "hide from the sight", but the literal meaning is "curtain". But for common usage, Hijan refers to the veil used to cover the hair. The veil has been worn sin many centuries before the Islam, but it was adopted by the followers of Mahoma (founder of Islam) as sign of wealth and status. Prophet Mahoma believed that wearing veil would be a protection against sexual temptations between women and men. Nowadays, even though is not a mandatory issue in most of Muslim countries, wearing veil is seeing as an honor measure, dignity nationalism and devotion to Islam. 

From Voces detrás del velo: El Mundo del Islam y la Muher Musulmana. Mehmet Ergun. 2005. Editorial Portavoz. pp. 97. 

As the picture shows, there are many kinds of dressing for Muslim women, but I will mostly refer to hijab as it is the most spread dressing custom in Egypt.

 Source: BBC News

According to WordIQ, cultural identity is the feeling of being included in a group or culture. Culture is defined by attitudes and beliefs and what a person from each culture believes is normal for that group.

Cultural identity is not just defined by a group or culture with which you identify. Cultural identity also consists of racial, religious, class, gender, sexuality and familial identities. Additionally, national, social and personal identities also contribute to one's cultural identity, as these properties envelope the entire person, making her who she is.


Taken from Yuurei Serai. What is cultural identity ? Home How tos & Tips http://www.ehow.com/info_7826546_culture-identity.html#ixzz29Zi16ufd [october 15 2012]


Video: Reasons to wear the veil


In this video, we see a western woman giving explanation why she decided to convert to Islam, and also give some perceptions about the dressing. Her reasons are quite the same than Muslim women have to do it. Rejection of western values is of the concepts she mentioned, and one of the key concepts for this research as well. 
Int his research I will argue that most of women in Egypt share the same point of view, so that they
 

 Photos: Muslim woman defending her right to wear veil.

In these images we can appreciate that there is a general support among Egyptian Muslim woman respecting the use of veil, as I argue in this research.

 

Taken from http://thealphapersona.com

Taken from http://egagah.blogspot.tw

 Photo: General perception of muslim women in Western countries.

Even though is partly true, this paper will show that not applies 

to every Muslim society.

 

Taken from http://feministtruths.blogspot.c...)

Article: Egyptian women were doing better under Mubarak

In this article from a The Guardian, Nabila Ramdani reflects the western point of view about Muslim women that I trying to deny. In this occasion, she refers to Egyptian women, as disappointed by Revolution because their demands have not yet been satisfied. I chose this article because shows the common western idea about the topic; she quoted some Egyptian women complaints about their situation, and give some statistics about female participation in politics, for example. But, as I will argue during the research, this is not the conception they have about themselves, and maybe compared to western statistics the political participation in Egypt may appear insignificant, but if we compare to another Muslim countries, Egypt reaches one of the highest rates. This article supports the argument that every culture has different parameters, and cannot be judged  and compared that careless.

Ramadani, N. (2012, june 4) Egyptian women: They were doing better under Mubarak: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012, september 25 from  www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/egyptian-women-better-under-mubarak  

1º annotation

 First at all and because is a core concept in my research, I must give a clear definition about what veil is. Hijab is the general depict the dressing and veil between muslim women. Hijab comes from the Arab word Habana, which means "hide from the sight", but the literal meaning is curtain. But for common usage, Hijan refers to the veil used to cover the hair. The veil has been worn sin many centuries before the Islam, but it was adopted by the followers of Mahoma (founder of Islam)  as sign of wealth and status. Prophet Mahoma believed that wearing veil would be a protection against sexual temptations between women and men. Nowadays, even though is not a mandatory issue wearing veil is seeing as an honor measure, dignity nationalism and devotion to Islam. 

From Voces detrás del velo: El Mundo del Islam y la Muher Musulmana. Mehmet Ergun. 2005. Editorial Portavoz. pp. 97. 

As the picture shows, there are many kinds of dressing for Muslim women, but I will mostly refer to hijab as it is the most spread dressing custom in Egypt.

 Source: BBC News

According to WordIQ, cultural identity is the feeling of being included in a group or culture. Culture is defined by attitudes and beliefs and what a person from each culture believes is normal for that group.

Cultural identity is not just defined by a group or culture with which you identify. Cultural identity also consists of racial, religious, class, gender, sexuality and familial identities. Additionally, national, social and personal identity also contribute to one's cultural identity, as these properties envelope the entire person, making her who she is.

Taken from Yuurei Serai. What is cultural identity ? Home How tos & Tips http://www.ehow.com/info_7826546_culture-identity.html#ixzz29Zi16ufd [october 15 2012]

Reasons to wear the veil

In this video, we see a western woman giving explanation why she decided to convert to Islam, her reasons are quite the same than Muslim women have to do it. Rejection of western values is of the concepts she mentioned, and one of the key concepts for this research as well.

 

 Muslim woman defending her right to wear veil.

In these images we can appreciate that there is a general support among Egyptian Muslim woman respecting the use of veil, as I argue in this research.

 

Taken from http://thealphapersona.com

Taken from http://egagah.blogspot.tw

General perception of muslim women in Western countries.

 Even though is partly true, this paper will show that not aplies 

to every muslim society.

 

 

Taken from http://feministtruths.blogspot.c...)

Egyptian women were doing better under Mubarak

In  this newspaper article, Nabila Ramdani shows the traditional western point of view about muslim women. In this ocassion, she refers to egyptian women, as dissapiointed by Revolution because their demans have not yet been satisfied. She cited some egyptian women complaints about their situation, but, as I will argue during the research, this is not the common feeling among all of them.

Ramadani, N. (2012, june 4) Egyptian owmen: They were doing better under Mubarak: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012, september 25 from  www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/egyptian-womenh-better-under-mubarak  

Issue paper. Revised version

INCONGRUENCIES OF LAW AND SOCIETY: WOMEN IN EGYPT

The spring revolution in 2011 marked a watershed in Egyptian history. After many years of authoritarian governments, they established a democratic one in early 2012. As the responsible of the uprisings were demanding changes in society, Western countries decided to support them in their fight.

Even though their policies were neither democratic nor free, the previous presidents had had good relations with western countries, therefore never expected an Islamist party to win the elections as it indeed happened. These new commencement represents a big challenge and a big change in Egypt’s recent history. After the half of the 20^th century, Egypt has been ruled by presidents who tried to fit together the Egyptian society and the western culture. In order to do this, some of the policies they promulgated didn’t reflect the ideary of Egyptian society.

To give a picture of the contradictory situation it could be mentioned that 90% of the total population in Egypt professes Islam, but the last two presidents Anwar as-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak governed under secular state regulations. Egyptian society and women above all, were restrained by laws that hadn’t been created for them. The kind of freedom that State gave to Egyptian society wasn’t the freedom Egyptian society was thirsty for. This argument may be incomprehensible for western countries which wonder if the new government may match the western values. 

The main point of this essay is to demonstrate why Egyptian society considers itself as a free society now, even though in western countries are agreed that Islamist governments are radical and lack of support.  But who decides what a free society is?

The new Islamist government has the commitment to rule according the islamist laws, but the society seems to agree with that option. After being governed by the western democratic style, they decided to change it.

Women in Egypt had had a very important role in society since ancient times, and time to time spoke out to make themselves heard. When Mubarak and Sadat gave them more rights –according to the western definition on women rights- they didn’t see it as the goal they were trying to reach. Actually, the women in Egypt have a different conception of what a woman should be and the role they are supposed to play in society and family. This can be proven by their behavior after 2012 elections. Egypt, just like other Arab countries, are currently involved in a islamisation of its society. This means that women-but not only women- are turning back to the past and history in the search for their uniqueness. A very explicit example is the dressing. Western countries brand wearing veil as an evidence of women restrictions in Muslim countries but women are deciding to wear it even more than before.

Egypt has a particular identity which has been consigned to oblivion many years ago and the women are trying to rescue it and show what freedom really means to them.