Browsing by Author "Imam, Zeba"
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Item Implication of the cultural influence on development discourse manifested in the interaction of Cambodian and "Western" discourse on development issues(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Imam, ZebaCambodia has a strong presence of international donor agencies and expatriate development practitioners. The role of international donors in making government increasingly gender responsive is believed to be immense. This thesis contends that most expatriate and Cambodian development practitioners have different perceptions on the issue due to cultural influences. Due to these differences sometimes there emerge incongruence in the approach (that is often determined by international players) and the beliefs of most national practitioners who are responsible to implement these approaches. The problem of domestic violence is used as a case in point to demonstrate this incongruence. The thesis argues that the differences in views do not get discussed and thereafter resolved because the communication processes being followed are not open and dialogical in nature. It suggests that there are two primary reasons that come in the way of dialogic communication. One is related to the hierarchically different positions that expatriates and Cambodian practitioners occupy in the context of development work. The other is related to the difference in the perceptions of the practitioners depending on their degree of connectedness with the cultural setting. The thesis concludes that there is a need for introspection by the development practitioners for the reasons that may lie within them and their organizations for this communication gap. This is essential for initiating communication processes that are open so that the development practitioners may begin to arrive at common understanding as well as trusting relationships. The study is conducted following the tenets of the ??????naturalistic inquiry?????? as proposed by Lincoln and Guba (1985).Item "Our Women": Construction of Hindu and Muslim Women's Identities by the Religious Nationalist Discourses in India(2011-02-22) Imam, ZebaSecular nationalism, India?s official ideology and the basis for its secular Constitution, is being challenged by the rising religious nationalist discourses. This has resulted in an ongoing struggle between the secular and religious nationalist discourses. Since women are regarded as symbols of religious tradition and purity, the religious nationalist discourses subject them to increasing rules and regulations aimed at controlling their behavior to conform to the ideal of religious purity. In this study I examine the subject positions that the Hindu and Muslim nationalist discourses in India are constructing for "their women" and its implication for women's citizenship rights. I focus my research on two topics, where religious nationalist discourses intersect with the women's question in obvious ways. These are "the Muslim personal law" and "marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men". The Muslim personal law has emerged as the most important symbol of Muslim identity over the years, and holds an important position within the Hindu and the Muslim nationalist discourses as well as the secular discourse. The debates around the Muslim personal law are centered on questions of religious freedom and equal citizenship rights for Muslim women. The issue of marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men is located in the Hindu nationalist discourse?s larger theme pertaining to the threat that the Muslim "other" poses to the Hindu community/nation. I juxtapose the religious nationalist discourses with the secular nationalist discourse to understand how the latter is contesting and negotiating with the former two to counter the restrictive subject positions that the religious nationalist discourses are constructing for Hindu and Muslim women. The study is based on the content of debates taken from three mainstream English newspapers in India. Further, interviews with people associated with projects related to women rights and/or countering religious nationalism are used to supplement the analysis. The analysis is carried out using concepts from Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory. The analysis suggests that the subject positions being constructed by the religious nationalist discourses for Hindu and Muslim women, although different from each other, freeze them as subjects of religious communities, marginalizing or rejecting their identities as subjects of State with equal citizenship rights. The women rights and secular discourse counters this by offering a subject position with more agency and rights compared to the former two. However, it is increasingly getting trapped within the boundaries being set by the religious nationalist discourses. I argue that there is a need for women rights and secular discourse to break the boundaries being set by the religious nationalist discourses. In order to prevent the sedimentation of the meaning "women as subjects of community", the secular discourse needs to employ the vocabulary of liberal citizenship as rearticulated in feminist, pluralist terms.