“Global Feminism” and Muslim Women. An evening with Arahmaiani Feisal

“Well there seems to be a rupture between Islam’s image and the reality of Islam. I ask myself: ‘am I really like the people depicted in this way by media? A woman with a heavy black veil? A woman who must serve and obey a man? A woman lacking the freedom to express herself?’ This is how some would like it to be but in fact, no! I don’t think that I belong to this group of people.”(Arahmaiani, 2006)

What is the predominant image of Muslim Women in mainstream white western societies and especially media? In what way do falsified images of women in Islam perpetuate and enhance the increasing anti-Islamic attitudes within society and politics since then? In what way are western feminist theories often not more than a pretext to legitimate anti-Islamic behavior and policies in Europe and internationally (i.e. the attack on Afghanistan or the dismissal of a Muslim school teacher in Germany resulting from her refusal to lay down her head scarf in 2007)?
After the screening of the documentation of Arahmaiani’s Bangkok project “Stitching the Wound” in which the artist worked together with a group of young Thai-Muslim in dealing with stereotypes against Islam and Muslim societies in Southeast Asia and beyond Arahmaiani will give an input on how she sees the problem of the power of representation and what this means in the context of global feminism and anti-Muslim tendencies within white western societies Arahmaiani will particularly discuss the growing polarisation between the Islamic and the western world using the concrete example of the debate around women’s rights particularly since 9/11.
Following from this, she will elaborate upon why there is an urgent need for the recognition of Postcolonial heritage in Europe and the “Western World” and highlight the significance of community building and common resistance.

About the Project:
In Arahmaiani’s Bangkok project from 2006 “Stitching the Wound” which was done in collaboration with the Jim Thompson Centre for the Arts Bangkok Thailand the artist worked together with young Thai-Muslims women from the Baan Krua weaving community. The project focuses on Muslim issues as a basis for a broader exploration of marginalization, identity and communication. Through interactive performance organised in close proximity with members of the Muslim Baan Krua enclave, Arahmaiani takes aim at the assumptions and stereotypes that are often responsible for fanning the flames of misunderstanding and fear at the heart of contemporary Muslim/non-Muslim relations in the Southeast Asian region and beyond. Arahmaiani is also concerned with the weight given to symbols associated with religion that are read and mis-read in such a way as to distort the essence of faith both for its practitioners and those outside its tenets.

For more information about the project please visit: http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/events/Stitching_Wound.asp

Die Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch statt.