Warrior Marks Essay Example for Free

Warrior label EssayHow often do we seek to distinguish betwixt the Western and non-Western cultural view? How often instead of looking deeper into neighborly, ethnographical and anthropological implications of non-Western cultural traditions, do we increase the existing gap between Western cultural appropriateness and non-Western social sharpness?It appears that ethnographic research does not always lead to cultural reconciliation, and whenever scholars try to combine professional research and commercial profit, they inevitably limit themselves to subjectivity, avoiding the near interesting and controversial social tensions and expanding the boundaries of never ending racism. Grewal and Kaplan (1996) are confident that when trying to create an objective picture of new(prenominal)ness, we are being torn between the two opposing forms of cultural representation, and this western/ non-western paradigm shapes our attitudes and predetermines our reactions to everything that go es beyond the acceptable limits of western cultural thinking. This binary structure of our cultural perceptions seems to contradict to the generally original principles of multiculturalism, and turns neo-colonial representations into the essential component of any ethnographic narrative.It should be noted, that US cultural feminism constructed an unproblematic narrative of liberation based on a universalized and essentialist identicalness as woman. This form of cultural feminism, as it has been practiced in the US and Europe from the 70s to the present, often turns its attention to global sistership (Grewal Kaplan, 1996). As a result, both Walker and Parmar seek to review the tragedy of African womanhood through the lack of sisterhood and the predominance of cruel and nigh inhumane remote traditions.Certainly, the essence of ethnography is to represent societies other than those in which we live moreover, the aim of any ethnographic research is to review the hidden implication s of otherness as opposed to modernity to which we belong (Grewal Kaplan, 1996). In this context, Walker and Parmar intentionally emphasize the role which foreignness and exoticism may play in constructing invigorated global images of other cultures.Both agree upon the need to create an atmosphere of global terror, which is expected to underline the value of womanism as well as perpetrate and intentional negligence toward women in other communities. Finally, Parmar and Walker cannot avoid integrating colonial experiences and perceptions with those generated by the vision of womanish genital surgeries in Africa, which for Walker jump out out as the signs of the so-called patriarchal wounds (Grewal Kaplan, 1996)The question is, however, how appropriate, objective, and unbiased this horrified gaze of genital surgeries in Africa is. Moreover, the work of Pramar and Walker creates rather limited ethnographic impression and seems to border on their subjective feminism. On the one ha nd, this horrified impression is the result of placing the concept of genital surgery against the background of western womens liberationist values here, genital surgeries look like the brightest representations of patriarchal otherness and the instrument of violating the basic human rights.On the other hand, this horrified gaze prevents authors from breaking the everlasting(a) binary Western / non-Western paradigm and turns into a barrier on the way toward a more objective and multicultural understanding of gender practices in other societies. The problem is that the authors erroneously apply their westernized vision to gender practices in societies, which adhere to a completely different set of values.Walker and Pramar exploit the features of a universalized female body, which makes it impossible to review the similarity between genital surgeries in Africa and the impact of liposuction, cosmetic surgeries, in vitro fertilization, and mastectomies on female body in Western societa l tradition (Grewal Kaplan, 1996). This lack of objective vision is the source of the major anthropological asymmetries, which position otherness along with the notion of unnaturalness, cruelty, and helplessness, terror, victimization, and a whole set of womens liberationist misconceptions.Unfortunately, the work of Walker and Pramar is the combination of commercialism and the search for popularity. In the pursuit for multiculturalism and ethnographic objectivity, it is not enough to create a sense of terror toward patriarchal practices in otherness, for these do not always fulfill their scientific function but on the contrary, become the source of distorted racial attitudes and bias.ReferencesGrewal, I. Kaplan, C. (1996). Warrior Marks Global womanisms neo-colonial discourse in a multicultural context. Camera Obscura, 39 (4) 5-33.