Thursday, April 29, 2010

Women: Tradition v Modernization

This has certainly been the year when women's issues are finally being given some of the attention they deserve. It is due to books like "Half the Sky", but many other sources also. Conflicts classes across the years struggled with various "women's" issues such as FGM and whether Westerners had the right or even the responsibility to go into another culture and try to change it - even with the best of motives and to help powerless victims. Was this interference or intervention? Was this humanitarianism or cultural imperialism? Well, Judah Ferst (260) posted a video about women not having to choose between their traditions and western (modern?) ways. She discusses using traditions to bring about the change within culture, instead of abandoning tradition for western culture. It is powerful. Hope you will get a chance to look at it and tell us what you think.

http://www.ted.com/talks/kavita_ramdas_radical_women_embracing_tradition.html

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