Grrrr
Okay, so the Spanish solution means that I did have to buy another expensive Spanish book...only $160, but still painful.
So far, I have attended two 110 classes, only one of which was led by Amy (the professor.) The first class went well, didn't drag on. The second was a movie day where we watched a Spanish movie starring Penelope Cruz. It was about transvestites. Go figure.
Otherwise, classes are lovely. In women and gender in Islam we went to the mosque in Rockford to talk to some of the sisters there. There were five women waiting for us when we got there (late), and they were very interesting for several reasons. First, they ALL covered. I was not expecting all of them to do so, however I should have known because we met them in the Muslim community center which also houses the mosque. Second, they were all from different backgrounds ethnically and spiritually. One was raised in America and in Syria, one was raised in New Jersey, and one had been brought up as a Muslim in a non-Muslim household. I knew (in theory, anyway), that Islam is NOT a monolithic experience, and that women in Islam have differing ideas on what it means to be oppressed/liberated. The general theme that I am sensing from American Muslim women, so far, is that they have no need of "liberation." They have all the freedoms they want/perceive they can have.
Not all Western feminists would agree with this, but I guess they don't have to. They just have to deal with it.
Also, I get to go home soon. Pangs of homesickness have not really subsided. I fear more and more that they have to do with some stupid boy. I am turning into a serial monogamist.
Gah.
So far, I have attended two 110 classes, only one of which was led by Amy (the professor.) The first class went well, didn't drag on. The second was a movie day where we watched a Spanish movie starring Penelope Cruz. It was about transvestites. Go figure.
Otherwise, classes are lovely. In women and gender in Islam we went to the mosque in Rockford to talk to some of the sisters there. There were five women waiting for us when we got there (late), and they were very interesting for several reasons. First, they ALL covered. I was not expecting all of them to do so, however I should have known because we met them in the Muslim community center which also houses the mosque. Second, they were all from different backgrounds ethnically and spiritually. One was raised in America and in Syria, one was raised in New Jersey, and one had been brought up as a Muslim in a non-Muslim household. I knew (in theory, anyway), that Islam is NOT a monolithic experience, and that women in Islam have differing ideas on what it means to be oppressed/liberated. The general theme that I am sensing from American Muslim women, so far, is that they have no need of "liberation." They have all the freedoms they want/perceive they can have.
Not all Western feminists would agree with this, but I guess they don't have to. They just have to deal with it.
Also, I get to go home soon. Pangs of homesickness have not really subsided. I fear more and more that they have to do with some stupid boy. I am turning into a serial monogamist.
Gah.