Not without my sister(s) : imagining a moral America in "Kandahar".

Weber, Cynthia (2005) Not without my sister(s) : imagining a moral America in "Kandahar". International Feminist Journal of Politics, 7 (3). pp. 358-376. ISSN 1468-4470

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Abstract

Less than two months after 11 September 2001, and a few weeks after the beginning of the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush made an urgent plea to see Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Kandahar. Not only did the President want to see Kandahar; he encouraged US citizens to view it as well. This article offers two readings of Kandahar - the first suggestive of what its filmmaker Makhmalbaf saw in Afghanistan and the second suggestive of what Bush saw (or hoped to see) in Makhmalbaf's Afghanistan. In particular, this article focuses on how the Bush administration - against the intentions of Kandahar's director and star - propelled occidental subjects to 'lift the veil' on Afghanistan and on Afghan women by viewing Kandahar as if it positioned the feminine as a needy and willing object of US rescue. It was in part by laying this particular claim to the separated sisters of Kandahar that the Bush administration constructed a humanitarian US 'we' as among the foundations of its 'moral grammar of war' in the war on terror.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Feminist Journal of Politics
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3318
Subjects:
?? afghanistanfeminismkandaharmoralitywar on terrorgender studiespolitical science and international relationssociology and political scienceja political science (general) ??
ID Code:
19782
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
11 Nov 2008 16:22
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 09:47