Malala Yousavzai, a teenage Pakistani girl, was shot in the
head by the Taliban for fighting for the right to an education. After being
nursed back to health, she continues to preach the importance of an education.
“Education is not eastern, neither western,” Malala says. “Education is
everything.” Along with her father, Malala had worked toward spreading
education to all children, especially young girls. News stories about this
amazing and courageous young girl have been popping up left and right in western
media, helping her cause find its way into the hearts of everyone who knows her
story. As I was shuffling through different media’s opinions, I found a
poignant piece with a very different opinion of this whole situation on the
blog “Media Diversity UK” entitled “Malala Yousavzai and the White Savior
Complex.” This piece discusses the importance of Malala’s message, and the ways
in which western culture has taken her under its wing and claimed the message
for itself.
“This is a story of a native girl being saved by the white
man. Flown to the UK, the Western world can feel good about itself as they save
the native woman from the savage men of her home nation”
The media uses this transformed story to justify actions
against the Middle East, such as bombings and wars; and this is not the first
time the white man has tried to make excuses and save a native or a minority to
try and rid himself of white guilt. In Deloria’s Indians in Unexpected Places, natives were brought on diplomatic
visits to the capitol, however it turned into an Indian song and dance
performance for the white hosts (57). In Fregoso’s “Fantasy Heritage,” she
points out that the most popular non-white actresses are popular due to their
ability to cross color lines and “move in and out of ethnic roles” (109). Their
ability to appear white is presented as their most important quality as an
actress. In the plot of Pinky, there
is a direct line of heroism expressed by Pinky’s fiancé. He tells her he loves
her, regardless of her race, and will take her to Colorado to protect her from
the news of her colored skin. He believes that because of his whiteness, he has
a duty and the ability to protect her, a minority. How does white guilt affect
the roles of non-whites in media today? What will it take for “natives” and
minorities to be viewed as independent human beings that can stand on their
feet without express support from white society?
2 comments:
I just read an interesting piece on Malala Yousafzai that I thought was really on point. Entitled "How To Keep Malala from Being Appropriated: 5 points on Malala, Obama, and Jon Stewart," the article emphasized that Malala is remarkable, but not exceptional. The author writes: "There is a long legacy to the exceptionalizing narrative when it comes to Muslims, and it works like this: “The majority of folks ‘over there’ are either monsters or victims. Every now and then, there is an isolated solitary hero that stands against that. That hero supports ‘our’ values.” That tendency to view the lone solitary hero(ine) of the Muslim masses, the need to have the solitary exceptional Muslim is part of the “good Muslim/bad Muslim” game. And we are done playing these games... Malala is struggling against the patriarchal and misogynist tendencies of Muslim societies, that much is true. But it also important to point out that her courage, her compassion, her conviction also arises out of the same society. In short, it is her family, her community, and her faith that give rise her remarkable (though not exceptional) strength and beauty of character."
The author also points out that Malala is not ours (or Jon Stewart's) to adopt: "Malala is already rooted in a community, even as she is struggling to reform that community. One can only adopt someone who is an orphan, without family, without communtiy. None of these are true for Malala. The extent to which she will be able to transform her own society will remain linked to the extent to which she remains grounded in her own community (while perhaps networking with international voices of resistance, human rights, etc.)"
A Gawker article about Malala asking President Obama to stop drone strikes is getting some play, but overall, the narrative is as you identify: the West "saving" Malala as a demonstration of the superiority of Western values. The author of the Malala appropriation piece poses the following question: would we being celebrating Malala's life and work if she had been killed by a drone strike instead of being shot in the face by the Taliban? The answer, of course, is no.
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