[Discussion] Muslim Women Redefine War

[sule tarakcioglu]

*Muslim Women Redefine War*

This anthology seeks to redefine the stereotypical definitions of
=93Muslim=94 women that over flow Western discourses on the Islamic Other=
.
The veil, seemingly the age-old symbol of our repression and the
archetypical rationale for our rescuing by the west, has become a
transparent symbol of Islamic =93barbarity.=94 In this anthology we seek =
to
move beyond such sterile representations and narrow debates, calling for
work that engages the complexity that make up =93Muslim=94 women=92s
contemporary realities. We seek to construct a multiple-voiced text and
many-sided vision of our lives as =93Muslim=94 women by forging ourselves
into new creative collectivities. In this process the category =93Muslim=94
must be rendered anew through our own politics and cultural practices
and such a rendering must reflect the many valences of our multiple
histories because we come from all parts of the =93Muslim=94 world=97whet=
her
we are from Saudi Arabia, Britain, Indonesia, Sudan or Black Muslims in
the United States. Through this anthology we seek to build coalitions
among =93Muslim=94 women, broadening the definitions of =93war,=94 and gi=
ving
voice to the multiplicities of our lives. The reason why we have put
=93Muslim=94 in quotes throughout this call is to move away from those
tendencies that seek to reduce us to monological stereotypes and to
define us in one homogeneous way.

This anthology encourages submissions that might subvert these
stereotypes, claim them and move beyond them or perhaps simply ignore
them. Through poetry, prose and photography we wish to express the
multiple voices that move within us and in our communities, voices that
trouble the dominant generalizations. Submissions should speak of war
broadly but of struggles specifically and redefine war and warring, from
our bodies to the so-called war against terrorism, from the war against
hetronormativity in our homes to the construction of the nation, from
the war for control over our sexuality to the war against cancer.

For ages it seems we have been torn between two empires, one that
claimed our freedom in rapacious capitalism and another that claimed to
breaks these bounds by divesting us of our cultures. Both were caught in
a shadow dance of proliferating arms. Now with the end of this so-called
Cold War, the nuclear race over and bombs under every pillow we are at
the beginning of another divide. Today, the US and its military is
seeking to impose a (new) world (dis)order creating new dictionaries of
control, defining, normalizing which person and populations, which
nation and which culture can enter the theater of =93civilization.=94
Sometimes this is simply a matter of which look matches this weeks
terrorist. Can we really believe what they claim constitutes a threat
when people are being held captive without due process, unjustly
profiled and targeted and carpet bombed, from immigrant ghettoes of the
US to Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay, from Palestine to Iraq, to
Afghanistan, to Kashmir? We are living in a period where violence is the
rule of the day, where states sponsor and legitimizing violence seeking
to control populations, to define a =93just=94 death and to monopolize th=
e
right to kill.

As our lives become targets of manufactured =93truths=94, and the real
questions hidden behind corporate media sound bytes, Islam becomes the
new demon to be exorcized. While corporate radars drain our economic and
natural resources, and war lord militias backed by the US confiscate our
lands, our cultures are =93occidentalized=94; the Pentagon has co-opted T=
he
Battle of Algiers. It becomes even more urgent to open our selves to the
multiple forms of struggles=97to the many becomings that our survival
demands. As =93Muslim=94 women we are at the forefront of struggles and w=
ar
all over the globe. We are targets of hate crimes in the US, we are also
suicide bombers in Palestine, =93Muslim=94 women are taking up arms and
throwing their bodies against military machines while offering their
sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and friends to=85 war.

Through poetry, prose and photography this anthology seeks to bring
together the experiences, dreams, nightmares and views of =93Muslim=94 wo=
men
in their daily struggle in and against wars throughout the world. As the
war against =93terrorism=94 unfolds, we seek submissions that address the
every day of "Muslim" women=92s lives and that reconnect our resistances,
spirituality and religion, and our memory, loss, violence, sexuality and
love.

Issues such as but not limited to:

    * Muslim Women and the Nation
    * Terrorism
    * Counter terrorism
    * Muslim women and the Nuclear Bomb or WMD
    * Muslim women and women of colour
    * Building Coalitions
    * The war in Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, Philippine=
s,
    * India, Pakistan, Middle East, New York City, Indonesia, Algeria,
      Sudan, etc. etc.
    * Hate crimes
    * Queer Muslim women and their struggles and wars
    * The border the body and the Muslim nation
    * Motherhood and war
    * Pregnancy and War
    * Military Tribunals
    * INS detention and deportations
    * The construction of the wall in Palestine
    * India Pakistan border
    * Nightmares and September 11th
    * The Gulf War
    * Media and Muslim women
    * Organizing and Muslim women
    * The veil and liberation
    * The Quran and war and women
    * Muslim women and health
    * Reproductive rights to the fight for better health care/facilities
    * Cancer and Muslim women

Submission deadline: November 15th, 2004 Work does not have to be in
English Please send submissions to the address below:

	Sarah Husain
1115 Lasswade Dr.
Tallahassee, FL 32312

Email: muswymnanthology@comcast.net <mailto:muswymnanthology@comcast.net>