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Art Amongst War Gallery Note

Afghanistan and the United States have a complicated, intertwined, and volatile history encompassing decades of political, humanitarian, and military occupations of Afghanistan. Afghanistan and America have a hierarchal relationship, in which the “dominant view of Afghanistan is a war-torn, dusty, barren, cold, and broken land, a view constructed from images encountered in the commercial news media” (Hutton 8). These circulated images are a form of cultural imperialism, in which the ‘dominant’ American culture presents a one-dimensional representation of the ‘subordinate’ Afghanistan culture in order to silence and limit the voice and agency of the subordinate group. These visual representations of Afghanistan are thus a “cultural product [that] is shaped in distinctive ways by the dominant discursive regimes that structure the national public spheres in which they are received” (Fernandes 69). Western media representations turned Afghanistan into a social construction, evoking images of inferiority, poverty, and difference for the purpose of mobilizing an ‘Afghanistan’ that fits into America’s political agenda and justifies its military invasion of the country. The Art Amongst War Exhibit displays visual art that attempts to combat these normative images of Afghanistan for the purpose of “[expanding], [enhancing], and [problematizing] the way in which we see (and don’t see) Afghanistan and its citizen” (Hutton 6). The exhibit reveals a counternormative narrative of Afghanistan that defies a singular identity and instead creates a space for multiple voices that represent the vibrant identity and culture of Afghan people.

The photos, textiles, and the other forms of artwork displayed in the exhibit depicts a distinct and rich Afghan culture that exists because of and even despite the violence and multiple foreign invasions Afghanistan has experienced in the past several decades. Much of the artwork in the exhibit display juxtaposing images of life and death, violence and safety, and destruction and peace to show that ‘Afghanistan’ does not fit into a static mold and that its people are able to survive and flourish amidst all the conflict. For example, the “Colorful Life” photograph shows a dilapidated structure that looks like a state building in the background. At the center of the photograph is a man riding a bike tied with colorful balloons, and on the front side of the photograph is a young boy holding a pink balloon to his face (Akbar). The photograph does not shy away from the country’s physical ruins, but it also shows that the country is not defined by its suffering either; rather, the color in the photograph demonstrates resilience, life, and an unbroken human spirit.

Similarly, the war rugs show tensions between Afghanistan and its foreign invaders. The “Specular Mosque Rug with Vehicle Border” is particularly revealing; it is a vibrantly colored rug with a mosque prominently displayed in the center, and surrounding the mosque is a border of what appears to be war vehicles (WarRug.com). This rug is not just a work of art but also a form of political activism. The border of vehicles shows an implied and impending violence surrounding the mosques, and this image can be interpreted as representative of the danger of the foreign invasions to Afghanistan.

Both the photograph and the war rug, along with the other artworks, “invoke and practice a form of witnessing” in which the artists are “engaged witnesses, shaping and being shaped by the world they [write] about” (Fernandes 128). The artists are witnesses both to the violence in Afghanistan, but instead of remaining passive witnesses to it, they utilize their agency to actively define the landscape of Afghanistan and its modes of representation.

            Although a different artist created each piece of art, all the artworks were selected and thematically arranged in the exhibit by the students of the HON 370 course. Upon entering the exhibit and walking left, the theme of war emerges, as evidenced by the accompanying plaques to the wall about “Soviet Occupation & Afghan Civil War” and “The Taliban.” On that side, there are artworks that show the remnants of war that haunt Afghanistan, like Lida Abdul’s video In Transit, which shows children pretending a broken war plane is a kite, or Moshtari Hilal’s drawing Catch Me If You Can, which shows a woman caught in the grasp of a veiled figure that is presumably symbolic of the Taliban’s restrictive laws on women.

Moving along the exhibit to the right shows a different story, one of political resistance, emotional strength, and humanity amidst the violence. For example, Gulbuddin Elham’s Aftermath of Attack on U.S. Soldiers in Faryab shows an Afghan male citizen holding a video camera to a U.S. male soldier presumably telling the citizen to leave the scene, while in the background are bloody and fallen U.S. soldiers.

These artworks are part activism and part education; they seek to report on the state of Afghanistan from the perspective and lived experiences of Afghan citizens, but they also promote a reimagining of Afghanistan that moves away from Orientalist discourse. All the artworks in the exhibit evoke a strong emotional response of shock and disbelief, but only because “we never approach [an image] innocent, wholly neutral or unfiltered [but rather] through a preexisting framework constructed from the immediate viewing context and our collective cultural memory” (Hutton 6). Because these artworks are viewed within the context of the United States and TCNJ, which are confined and insulated spaces, the images displayed are atypical of the narrative Western discourse has constructed of Afghanistan. Though these artworks were selectively chosen with certain parameters in mind and deliberately arranged in the exhibit with a specific agenda of eliciting a certain response from its imagined audience, the exhibit does not advertise itself as depicting the ‘true’ Afghanistan. Rather, it is honest about its creation, opens up a space for multiple voices, and fosters dialogue about Afghanistan. 

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Sigma Tau Delta International Conference Gallery Note

The 2014 Sigma Tau Delta International Conference was held this year in Savannah, Georgia and celebrated its 90th anniversary with the theme “River Current,” the image intending to evoke the constant ebb and flow of history and the ways in which societal changes influence language and literature. This year, the River Current theme is meant to get those who attend the conference to think about social transformations from 1924 to present-day, like the advent of consumerism, modernity, and the changing notions of the world in regards to race, gender, class, and sexuality. Founded in May 1924, Sigma Tau Delta – “Sincerity, Truth, and Design” – was created as “an order designed to promote the mastery of written expression, encourage worthwhile reading, and foster a spirit of fellowship among those specializing in the English language and literature” (Watson). Through its name, Sigma Tau Delta is establishing itself as an organization devoted to truthful and ethical analyses of literature; however, the very notion of ‘truth’ is complicated by the fact that multiple voices and narratives exist. Therefore, questions of (mis)representation arise when evaluating the conference and the way papers were written and categorized into sessions.

Although literature is interdisciplinary and can be analyzed through different theoretical lenses that attempt to expose various hierarchies and social inequalities within a written text, the institutionalized nature of literature within academia creates the danger of reproducing the very social structure it is attempting to deconstruct. The conference does linguistically attempt to subvert the norm by creating paper categories like “Original Poetry: Diverse Voices.” The deliberate naming of this session and the poetry placed into this category, however, show how “scholarship within such fields often conceives of itself in discursive opposition to structures of power” but in reality show how “interdisciplinary scholarship is located within institutional networks that are indirectly or directly connected to the state (Fernandes 138). This “Diverse Voices” category is meant to be a space that allows those whose voices are silenced or subdued in society a chance to speak about and share their experiences. However, there was only one woman who wrote about racial identity in a collection of poems entitled “Qisas: Stories from Islamic Tradition,” in which she refashioned the stories of people from the Quran. Her poetry brought to life characters that are not seen in mainstream culture, which necessitated her having to distribute a handout with the identity of the characters she used in her poetry. Every other person in the panel aside from the one presented poetry, however, had little to do with diversity. It was so obvious that one of the audience members asked them how they thought they fit in the category of “diverse voices,” which none was able to answer clearly except for the one woman who wrote “Qisas.”

Because the conference only accepts papers produced within an undergraduate academic arena, the papers that were presented are subconsciously part of an institution through which normative notions of race, gender, class, sexuality, and other such social categories are inadvertently produced and reproduced. There were four moments in the conference that starkly revealed subconscious and overt flashes of patriarchal ideology. The first was during the Scholarship and Awards Ceremony. A presenter was announcing the winner of a Sigma Kappa Delta award and said that the reason this woman won the award was because of her “devotion to her students and, most importantly, her family” (“Sigma Kappa Delta”). Secondly, the author of a conference paper wrote, “women can certainly understand Anne’s fear of the biological clock ticking” (Queenberry). Thirdly, a presenter’s analysis of the gender politics in Fifty Shades of Grey dichotomized women’s roles strictly to professionalism and motherhood, valorizing workingwomen while disparaging motherhood (Godard). Lastly, during the “Bad Poetry Contest,” a social event hosted by the conference, some of the men presented intentionally ‘bad’ poems that appropriated and mocked women’s sexual experience. One poem was told from the perspective of the vibrator getting stuck in a woman’s vagina while another poem said, “Bad sex is like pizza. Only the girl cares.” In all cases, all the speakers were producing patriarchal ideology through their language and presentation, and the audience members were reproducing this ideology through their laughter and applause.

In the first instance, during the awards ceremony, the winner’s family values were presented as equally important as academic merit in the judges’ decision to give her the award. In the second instance, there was an implicit assumption that all women can sympathize with Anne’s desire for having children. In the third instance, the woman used a very Western feminist lens to analyze the female characters from the novel and dichotomized women’s roles, consequently creating a hierarchy of femininity. The last instance was just plain sexist packaged as clever humor – degrading jokes made at the expense of women. Through the patriarchal discourse used, both presenters perpetuated a traditional feminine gender role that places women in the domestic sphere and “inadvertently disciplining and territorializing the boundaries of interdisciplinary knowledge in ways that may reproduce rather than move beyond the U.S. nation-state” (Fernandes 167). In these four moments, there was a fusion of seemingly ‘objective’ academia with subjective moral values and culture mores. The language choices of the people in the conference perpetuated certain stereotypes about women, bounding the conference in a specific cultural microcosm that reproduced a patriarchal social order but presented as unbounded and all-inclusive. There was thus an interesting tension underlying the conference between subjectivity and objectivity, truth and falsity, national and multicultural.

  Works Cited

  Fernandes, Leela. Knowledge, Ethics, Power: Transnational Feminism in the United States. New York: New York University Press, 2013. Print. 

Godard, Nicole. “All a Woman Has to Give: Sister Carrie to Fifty Shades.” Images of Women. Sigma Tau Delta International Honor Society. Marriott Riverfront, Savannah. 1 Mar. 2014. Speech.

Queensberry, Alexandria. “Minx or Martyr: The Fictional Portrayals of Anne Boleyn.” Pop Culture Royals. Sigma Tau Delta International Honor Society. Marriott Riverfront, Savannah. 27 Feb. 2014. Lecture.

“Sigma Kappa Delta.” Scholarship and Awards Ceremony. Sigma Tau Delta International Honor Society. Marriott Riverfront, Savannah. 28 Feb. 2014. Speech.

Watson, Sidney. “Convention Theme: River Current.” Sigma Tau Delta 2014 International Convention. Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

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Hakuna Kama Mama: Challenging Hegemonic Discourse

The Hakuna Kama Mama Photo-Voice Exhibit challenges normative Western conceptions of the “Third World African woman” by showing the multiplicity of narratives that exists about maternal health and women’s experiences. According to Chandra Mohanty, “Western” feminism tends to classify women of the “Third World” as a monolithic subject, viewing the “‘average third world woman’ as ignorant, poor, uneducated, victimized, etc” (80). This conception not only homogenizes women all over the world as having the same experience regardless of differing socioeconomic factors but also uses discursive constructions of the “Third World.” However, by using the photo-voice method, the Hakuna Kama Mama exhibition effectively represents the voices of women that may have previously been excluded from hegemonic discourse, because it allows the participants to take control of the medium and content of representation. Because the women were the ones who held the camera, they controlled their own narrative, choosing how they appear and what they want other societies to know about their culture and lived experiences. In addition, the photos are unedited, further proving that the story of maternal health in Zanzibar belongs to the women of the community. The exhibit showcases the women’s agency, thus subverting the discursive construction that “Third World” women are without power or autonomy to enact change in their lives.

In addition, the methodology of the project is an example of a global women’s movement, because it reveals the transnational network between advocacy groups in New Jersey and Zanzibar. The 120 participants from Nungwi and the 10 students from TCNJ worked together in a 3-day workshop to learn more about the other’s cultures, facilitating a better understanding of problems affecting women in a global context. The collaborative nature of the project “forges transnational feminist solidarities” and also allows the flow of information and activism about women’s issues to be “multidirectional” (Desai 15). Because the exhibition is also being showcased here, TCNJ community members of the Global North who otherwise might not have access to these women’s stories can gain a greater understanding of the issues in the Global South. Thus, the project fits the characteristics of a women’s movement outlined by Antrobus. It has “diversity,” because it contests the hegemonic narrative through the displayed pictures (Antrobus 15). It is a form of “feminist politics” (Antrobus 16). The women in Nungwi are aware, at least subliminally, of a structural gender inequality that is preventing the local government to improve their maternal healthcare, and it is this awareness that energizes their desire to create change through activism. Lastly, the project has “global reach,” because the project participants from Nungwi and TCNJ were able to move past their “separate identities along the prevailing axes of North-South” and instead work together around the common issue of maternal health (Antrobus 17). In this project, the cultural differences between the Nungwi and TCNJ community are seemingly not paramount, as evidenced by one picture in the gallery that contains members of both communities mixed together in one cohesive group.

Even the way the exhibit is structured shows the overarching theme of local and transnational community. Upon entering, directly to the left of the door is a picture of three women linked together. Further exploration of the exhibit shows more photos of people joined together in a circle, hand-in-hand, and these pictures in the exhibit become a symbol of unity, very much like Antrobus’s symbol of a wheel for global women’s movements. For Antrobus, a global women’s movement, like a wheel or a circle, is “comprised of interlocking networks that come together as appropriate” (22). Similarly, the exhibit shows the community’s collective effort to educate others about their issue and also to create social change on a local level, making the exhibit also a form of advocacy. Together, the project participants brainstormed the characteristics necessary for a good maternal clinic, like “comfort, good hospital conditions, location from the village, good midwife, good/new equipment, and emergency traveling accommodations,” and this list is shown in the picture of the blackboard as a symbol of the women’s social agency. The women are fighting for a “practical interest,” addressing women’s “immediate and perceived needs (Basu 4). By coming together, listing the things they need to change their society positively, and taking this project directly to health workers in the community, the project participants are taking an active role in social change and using art to advocate for their right to better healthcare.

In addition, though the project highlights the collaboration amongst the community members, the photos also reveal the importance of the diverse narratives of different individual community members. There are pictures to the right of the exhibit that are portrait style of one woman or a couple of women engaging in day to day activities, like buying food, cooking, caring and washing their children, getting water, and making things. These pictures are starkly honest in their depictions of the women in the community. The photos are direct and unapologetic. They place each woman at the center of the lens, each picture telling a story of survival and of kinship. The pictures depict the women’s reality, or at least as much as a picture can accurately convey truth and experience. However, the meaning of the pictures isn’t that the women are defined by their struggles. Rather, presenting the women at the center of the portraits simply living and also having a khanga with the words “Love is the light of life” sewed into fabric on display show that despite their hardships, there still exists hope and power for social change in the community.

Sources:

Antrobus, Peggy. The Global Women’s Movement: Origins, Issues and Strategies. Dhaka: University Press Ltd, 2004. Print.

Basu, Amrita. “Introduction.” Women’s Movements in the Global Era: The Power of Local Feminisms. Ed. Amrita Basu. Boulder: Westview Press, 2010. Print.

Desai, Manisha. “Transnational Solidarity: Women’s Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization.” Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. Ed. Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” The Women, Gender and Development Reader. Ed. Nalini Visvanathan, Lynn Duggan, Nan Wiegersma, and Laurie Nisonoff. London: Zed Books, 2011. 79-86. Print.