Tuesday, September 25, 2007

On "Desiring Arabs"

A book I MUST read by Joseph Massad, a writer I MUST discover more about...

"...From the start, Massad warns that words are never neutral. One is forced to rethink many commonly used terms and concepts, from culture and civilisation to sexuality and deviance. Since the currently accepted definitions of terms such as culture and civilisation arose in the age of colonialism, they reflect Eurocentric value judgements."

"...human rights and development advocates continue to be steered by Western-derived definitions of human behaviour and progress, which ignore the self-perceptions of the group or country targeted for study or intervention. This makes their role comparable to the missionaries of old, often with counterproductive or outright deleterious effects, regardless of their intentions."

2 comments:

sasa said...

It looks VERY VERY interesting!! I want to get my hands on it as soon as possible. Thanks for that.

Maysaloon said...

No probs. I'm seeing so many of our generation internalising the arguments and intellectual framework which has been imposed on us that I feel it important that we share and learn how to isolate these beliefs. Let me know what you think when you read it ;)