The starting
point of feminist theology as a theology of liberation came out from the
universal women's experience, especially, their experiences of oppression. Specific
impacts of their experience are influenced by social, political and cultural
locations of women. Therefore the saying, "what we see depends on where we
stand" points out the importance of our cultural context as our standing
point in shaping our view of life. It influences our perception, attitude,
behavior and value towards an object weather it is an issue, a person, or a
group of people.
In this paper I will
take a stance on how a cultural context shapes one's response to feminist
theology. I am going to present, first of all, two cultural contexts of the
issues on women: wearing of veil and female genital mutilation and seeing those
issues on how cultural context perceives women and how women in their cultural
context perceive the women's roles in their society. I try to develop "the
how" by discovering its process.
2.
Women's Issues in
their Cultural Context
The first issue: the issue of wearing a veil. The veil, in
some cultures, especially in the middle-east and some Muslim countries, has a special
meaning and symbolizes women's roles in that specific culture. The veil itself
is a face covering or a piece of material worn over the head and shoulders.
Interestingly, in Arabic, the word for veil "hijab" means an amulet
to keep away the evil eye. Why do they give this meaning to it?
Elisabeth and Robert Fernea in their observation and
study point out that the veil has religious, social, and economical dimensions.
In the religious dimension the veils women wear announce to the people that they
are Muslims and therefore, they should be treated with respect. The veil
signals their religious faith.
However, it seems
that the influence of their social backgrounds becomes the point why they are
wearing veil. This practice is rooted in the male view of women in the society
where the woman is seen as a thing that has to be protected. An Egyptian
anthropologist, Nadia Abu Zahra, states that "the veil expresses men's
status, power, wealth, and manliness. It also helps preserve men's image of
virility and masculinity (but men do not admit it). Men claim that one of the
purposes of the veil is to guard women's honor." And according to Fatma
Mernissi, a Moroccan sociologist, "women are seen by men in Islamic
societies as in need of protection because they are unable to control their
sexuality."
The second issue: the issue of female genital
mutilation. The practice of female genital mutilation, which is the rites of
passage from childhood to adulthood, is very important rites in some African
countries. This kind of practice is seen by us as a violation against woman
rights. However, as an African feminist theologian, T. M. Hinga points out the
importance of the rites of passage in her African culture. She says that female
puberty rites in African culture is very important for the young girls because
it is the rites of passage, which is to facilitate the transition of the girl
child from childhood to adulthood. She argues that the ritual is needed to help
the child make a smooth transition physically, psychologically, and spiritually
into womanhood.
Therefore, this
type of rite, female genital mutilation, is a way of formation for the young
girls. This rite contributes social, psychological, and spiritual formation for
the young girls or women. Through this rite they can face their role as adults
confidently in the society; this rite can give individual (a woman) a strong
sense of social definition and personal pride. Through this rite a woman can
define her role and her function in and for her society.
Therefore, if a woman does not do this kind of ritual,
she will feel unaccepted by her society. Hinga also argues that this rite is so
important for a woman, particularly in matters of her sexuality and identity as
woman. If she is not prepared to it, she will become a victim of such problems
like teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and so on. Furthermore,
the female genital mutilation, which is seen as a part of female puberty rites,
brings feelings of woman’s sense of belonging to her society. The rite prepares
a woman to act for her society; her identity as "real woman" will be
recognized by her society because the rite validates her passage into adulthood
and prepares her for marriage and for motherhood. This rite, therefore, is very
important for the life of society; it holds the structure of the community because
through this, the society produces an adult to take great responsibility in the
society for the life and continuity of the society.
3. How Cultural Context Shapes One's View on Women
Sociologically,
we are determined culturally because of the process of socializing in our life.
We learn values, behaviors, and attitudes from our own family, schools, and the
community or group we have lived. Hence, it's not a strange thing to say that a
culture determined by male system directly or indirectly is able to shape one's
system of values, which put men superior than women.
We have known
that there are different kinds of people's response to women's issues depending
on the cultural context they belong to and on the awareness of the people about
these issues. Some people see that the culture imposes the practices (the
practice of wearing a veil or of female genital mutilation) on women for the
sake of men. It is the man's culture that puts women like that. On the other
hand, some receive these practices as a part of being women. These practices
have to be done by women in order to get a respect in a society.
However,
although, both cases show two different cultural contexts of women's experience,
they both present a universal issue, that is, the issue of women in the
patriarchal society. That is why I will try to discover this issue critically
in the next part by looking at these two facts from the Perspective of Feminist
Theology.
4. Feminist Theology: A Response to the Issue
Responding two
issues above critically, I am going to use Elisabeth
S. Fiorenza's Critical Hermeneutics of Liberation's paradigm to seeing the
experience of women in their cultural context because I think this is the best
way of responding to the feminist theology issues. Although this model is being
used by feminists for the interpretation of the bible, we can use this paradigm
for the liberation of the women from their domination of the patriarchal groups
or societies.
Fiorenza's
starting point is the experiences of women. It is very critical point because
women's experience in a society is a key aspect to understand and value women’s
position and perspective. Fiorenza calls
this process "the hermeneutics of
experience". In "the hermeneutics of domination and social
location", Fiorenza invites us to unmask the ideology, that is, the
social, political, economic, and religious structure of domination. In this
sense, we can use it as a way to question the patriarchal groups that dominate
women. Then, there is "the
hermeneutics of suspicion", which can challenge women in their blind
respect, acceptance, and obedience to the culture they live. This aspect leads
to "the hermeneutics of critical
evaluation", which puts women to see and judge their situation
critically.
Fiorenza goes on
pointing out "the hermeneutics of
creative imagination" as a way where women are encouraged to imagine
their ideal vision of justice. Hence,
women are leading to construct and tell their own story, in which Fiorenza
calls it "the hermeneutics of
remembering and reconstruction". These aspects can open up the
awareness of women in reconstructing their cultural context for their better
life condition. Finally, this new perspective brings women to take an action in
transforming their life. Fiorenza calls it "the hermeneutics of transformative action for change".
Critical Hermeneutics of Liberation's paradigm
|
Issue of women wearing
veil
|
Issue of female genital
mutilation
|
Hermeneutics
of experience
|
Women’s experience and
story of wearing veil.
|
Women’s experience and
story of this kind of rite.
|
Hermeneutics
of domination and social location
|
Unmasking all social,
political, and economical dominations why they wear veil.
|
Does this kind of rite show
male dominations? Women should unmask it.
|
Hermeneutics
of suspicion
|
Being suspicious to their
situation of wearing a veil.
|
Suspicious on this
practice in this particular society.
|
Hermeneutics
of critical evaluation
|
Women’s judgments and
evaluation on their situation.
|
Women coming to see
critically and judge their condition.
|
Hermeneutics
of creative imagination
|
Women are encouraged to
imagine their ideal condition.
|
What is the ideal
condition of being women?
|
Hermeneutics
of remembering and reconstruction
|
Women come up to reconstruct
their own story by looking their ideal condition.
|
Reconstructing the best
ways of expressing what the true women is all about in the society.
|
Hermeneutics
of transformative action for change
|
To live out the newness of
life as women in the society.
|
Take an action to
transform the life of women.
|
5.
Conclusion
The experience of
the women differs from one culture to another. However, the truth is that there
are some women live in the patriarchal society where their roles as women are
seen for the sake and benefit of men. The veil and female genital mutilation
are two examples, which may point out men's domination over women in a
particular cultural condition.
Women in that
context might be not aware of this domination because they see that practice as
a “normal thing” in women's life. They see these kinds of practices are a way
of being women in the society. However, Fiorenza in her critical feminist
hermeneutics of liberation helps us and especially women to be aware of these
cultural contexts, whose contexts are created to maintain men's power.
Reading
Lists:
Fernea, Elisabeth W and
Robert A, Symbolizing Roles: Behind the
Veil in Confirmity
& Conflict, 9th
ed. by James P. Spradley & David W.
McCurdy (eds.),.
Fiorenza, Elisabeth S., Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical
Interpretation
(Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Books, 2001)
Hinga, T. M, Christianity and Female Puberty Rites in
Africa: the Agikuyu Case.
