Memed My Hawk

I wish I had had more time to read this entire novel, and at some point (once this class is done) I am sure I would love to go back and read the entire thing through thoroughly. What I was most enticed by was the idea of this internal conflict in the novel. We think of conflicts in the middle east as being large scale wars, and these are typically between the middle east and lets say....more westernized nations. But this novel presented a conflict that seemed very much like modern day slavery.
I also couldn't help thinking that Memed could almost be considered a tragic hero. His actions, though rebellious, are anything but cowardly. Not to say that those who would claim asylum and escape the place they are being enslaved are cowards, in fact most people would call them smart, but Memed endures numerous pains and losses to remain in his country to attempt to help his peoples situation with their "landlord," even though his people may not completely agree with his methods.

Women in the Middle East presenters

The history of the head scarf that our presenter provided (forgive me but I was dumb and didn't write down her name) helped add to the ideas that we started to touch after watching the documentary on the conflict this article of clothing has been causing in Turkey. At the beginning of the semester someone in our class (again forgive me, but it was like three months ago and I can't remember who said it) said that they thought that the American notion that these women are hiding behind them (or being forced to hide) and we needed to instead understand that it had more to do with preservation. Though preservation may have not been the exact word (and once again there is a good chance I am wrong because it was three months ago) I think this point correlated strongly to the message our presenter was trying to get across.
A weird connection that I started to think about (and this may be a very VERY loose connection) was the Dove campaign for real beauty. This campaign works with everyone from little girls to young woman to help them understand their definition of beauty, and where it comes from. I have done a few of these workshops and a thing that comes up in almost all of them is how women and girls recognize hair as a definition of beauty and identity. Though this may seem trivial, but it has a large effect on American girls definition of beauty. Most girls in these seminars believe that (due to media influence) the most beautiful girls are those with straight blonde hair. This may seem silly but the girls who discuss this in the seminars typically don't have straight blonde hair (maybe one or two do, but not ALL thirty or forty of them). Anyways, to get back onto the subject at hand, the point of the campaign is the help girls recognize what makes them special and unique and how a lot of this goes beyond physical attributes. They are taught to value themselves for their intelligence, personality, and passions.
While this woman was presenting about the head dress I couldn't help wondering, if this was part of our culture in the United States would dove still need a campaign for real beauty?
To sum this up, I really enjoyed listening to what the head dress represented to her, and I thought it was a very nice presentation.
On another semi related note...
The second speaker, towards the end of the class made the comment "sometimes women are womens worst enemies."
Does anyone remember what exactly the question was the brought this up. All I remember is thinking that she had a good point and I should blog on it...so much for that.

Honor Killings

The film we watched in class about the Honor Killings in Turkey had me confused.  First off, the interview with one of the men imprisoned for killings one of his female family members, and the man states that he thought the state was attempting to make changes to a state that lacked the infrastructure for such changes.   A country that is about to be a part of the E.U (or at least working towards it) is attempting to stop inhuman acts from potentially happening to half of their population.  What infrastructure is needed to insure the safety of half of a nations population?  The guy does however have a point. This is a very inhuman thing that is happening, but despite what laws they create the act continues.  The culture itself has to change, and I liked that in the short film they showed that there are some organizations that are attempting to address the problem.  I found these facts shockingly similar to the domestic violence that our country has had to address.  Twenty years ago Domestic Violence issues had almost no standing in courts, and woman had little to no options.  Now we have shelters and legislation pertaining to these acts of violence.  Schools educate kids about domestic and dating violence, and woman have more options then ever.  Even with all of this, the problem still exists today.  Its taken our nation twenty years to make the progress we have, and it will take time (and money) to address Turkeys issues. 

Paradise Now

What surprised me the most about this film was its portrayal of the Israeli people. Once the main characters reach Israel, everything they see involved wealth.  Their are advertisements for Samsung, and half naked woman walking on the beach.  The home they come from is dark and dirty, but the land in Israel is green and lush.  

By the end of the movie the main characters have you believing that they have no choice but to bomb Israel, and that I believe is wrong.  When the one brother decides that he does not want to do it, it was powerful to see how strong he was in his belief that it was not the right way.  Having been pumped up before hand and told he was going to be a hero, to turn his back on the mission meant to come back as a coward (and probably be killed).

In class we discussed the role of religion in this film, and there is one connection I would like to make.  I do not believe that the bombers main goal was to blow themselves up and then go right to heaven.  Islam does not preach violence yet the organization in this film made the bombers believe that they were going to be praised and welcomed into heaven.  Though the main point of the film was not religion, it did subtly show what could be considered a radical Islamic belief.  

Short Stories

These were the first two stories in class that I really enjoyed.  Not only were they very entertaining but so where the discussions that ensued.   

What was most intriguing to me was the legal responsibilities that the son in "The lawsuit" had to his step mother.  I do not believe that the step mother was a gold digger, but rather that she was an enabler to the fathers mid life crisis (though possibly not because the age difference in this story did not seem that much different from the one from Aunt Saffiya and it didn't appear to be a disgrace or irregular in that story).  Given that the events which followed her marriage to the father, I do believe it was his choice to do what he pleased with his money.  Should he put his immediate family first?  Yes, but as a human being he is permitted (though not condoned) to allow pride to overshadow his responsibilities.  

In an outside reading it was brought to my attention that following the Iraq-Iran war, Iraq found itself with a large population of widows, who were then economically dependent on the state.  Saddam decided that the best way to address this problem would be to sell them off to Iraqi men, and so each man who married a war widow was paid