Oriental Western Research Articles

Doing Feminism on the Street: Culture, Media, Perspectives and Neo-Gender Groups in Ghana

This study examines a debate that sparked a national conversation between two divergent women’s groups in Ghana—Pepper Dem Ministries (PDM) and Sugar Dem Ghana (SDG). Before reporting findings from taking their discourses on the definition of a woman to the streets of Madina and Legon, the paper briefly summarizes feminist perspectives in the West and notes homogeneity and heterogeneity of women’s experiences around the globe. It zooms in on feminism in Africa and Ghana, examining the definition of a woman in traditional Ghanaian culture, popular music, literature, knowledge production, media, and religion. The author argues that there are multiple feminisms with relatively contextual variations in defining a woman, yet all geared towards making society masculine as the debate revolves around patriarchy, i.e., “peppering” and “sugaring” men at the expense of focus on women. Findings indicate that PDM and SDG neo-feminist groups diverge fundamentally in the primary focus of their activism. They also differ in their commitment to advocating for all women by prioritizing an intersectional approach in their engagement. Participants from the Madina Market and the University of Ghana at Legon supported both groups. For some PDM seems too “strong” and is tagged as Western in orientation and elitist as educated folks mainly support it. In contrast, a mixed-bag of the participants appear to accept SDG. Pro-SDG supporters consider their model as the norm in Ghana. Keywords: Neo-feminism, gender roles, Africa, Ghana, culture, perspectives

On the Margins of SoTL Discourse: An Asian Perspective

The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) began in 2004, constituted by 67 scholars, mostly from English-speaking countries located in the Western hemisphere. Since then, the world has become increasingly global and borderless, and students’ movements across continents in search a good education have meant that today’s classrooms are, in varying degrees, heterogeneous. Yet SoTL discourse—the metaphors employed, the issues identified, and SoTL methods or approaches to classroom practice—have remained largely Western in orientation. This paper describes three types of exclusions of Asian participants and perspectives in mainstream discourse on the SoTL: geographical isolation, methodological solipsism, and ideological exclusion. Through a review of the dominant scholarship, we argue that an international association like ISSOTL must take active steps to consciously acknowledge the need for alternative voices that are located outside its immediate realm and that the differences in practice, participants, and the politics of culture in locations outside the West need to be taken into consideration, or ISSOTL will risk losing relevance for a greater part of world. Or to put it more positively, ISSOTL has much to gain by paying attention to and not denying the existence of such enriching, if less familiar, perspectives.

Sepharadi Women in Israel

Israel is a “melting pot” society. The challenges of integrating a large number of immigrants from all over the world has not been without its price. The subsuming of cultural variety within the dominant cultural identity has been especially oppressive for people of color. The dominant cultural identity is white, European, and Western in orientation. Jews from North Africa, Yemen, India, Iraq or Iran have been marginalized by a subtle racism rarely discussed openly. Recently people of color have been “coming out of the closet” in Israel. Public figures, politicians and artists are uncovering how racism has played a part in their lives. Jewish Sephardic women have suffered the effects of both racism (due to their dark skin color) and sexism due to patriarchal elements still existing in the context of modern Israel. Coming from varied non-Western cultures (North African, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and India) that are highly patriarchal and male-dominant, these women experience the impact of social change perhaps more than any other group. This paper will discuss issues related to feminine identity of Jewish Sephardic women of color in Israel. We will propose identity strategies that these women have used in order to create continuity of identity despite oppressive racism and sexism. Two brief vignettes demonstrate how different women use different identity strategies. Some women of color maintain their traditional ethnic and feminine identity expected of her as a woman, spouse and mother. Other women reject their ethnic and feminine identity and adopt Western roles through personal achievement and autonomy. For those in the helping professions, understanding how ethnic identity issues relates to emotional distress can be helpful. Two detailed case descriptions are presented which show the dilemmas of treating women from traditional ethnic groups. Western society developed the concept of “therapy,” often replacing the clergy, the clan elders and anyone representing moral codes, examples of behavior, the old lore and the traditional healers of traditional Jewish culture. As such, therapy poses a threat to women from traditional cultures within a Western oriented “modern” society. The importance of family to Sephardic women is discussed in light of the previous discussion related to identity and with regard to issues related to treatment.