This is the blog for History 128, Claremont McKenna College, spring 2015. It is open only to students enrolled in the class. Please use this blog to post articles and links related to the themes of the course. You can also post comments or questions on our readings, reflections on outside events that you attend, and notices of upcoming events of interest to the class. To generate discussion, please also read and comment on other postings. Check back regularly for updates!
This kind of violence and persecution is horrific and obviously has no place in the world. At the same time, I am always wary of Western discourses surrounding the persecution of women, queer people, religious minorities in Islamic countries/territories or by Islamic groups (I'm not implying that's what this article is doing, just the direction these discussions can sometimes go).
The intersection of queer (or for that matter, feminist) politics and islamophobia is super interesting to me and important to think about. While it's critical to be aware of LGBTQ persecution abroad, it's also worth asking how focusing on these issues while framing ourselves as more tolerant and "civilized" might play into islamophobia, racism, and neoimperialist practices as well as the erasure of our own country's violences towards queer people.
If you're interested in this kind of thing, check out the term "pinkwashing" and what it means in terms of LGBTQ politics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBT)
Also, I highly HIGHLY recommend Jasbir Puar's book, Terrorist Assemblages.
This kind of violence and persecution is horrific and obviously has no place in the world. At the same time, I am always wary of Western discourses surrounding the persecution of women, queer people, religious minorities in Islamic countries/territories or by Islamic groups (I'm not implying that's what this article is doing, just the direction these discussions can sometimes go).
ReplyDeleteThe intersection of queer (or for that matter, feminist) politics and islamophobia is super interesting to me and important to think about. While it's critical to be aware of LGBTQ persecution abroad, it's also worth asking how focusing on these issues while framing ourselves as more tolerant and "civilized" might play into islamophobia, racism, and neoimperialist practices as well as the erasure of our own country's violences towards queer people.
If you're interested in this kind of thing, check out the term "pinkwashing" and what it means in terms of LGBTQ politics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBT)
Also, I highly HIGHLY recommend Jasbir Puar's book, Terrorist Assemblages.