Hailey Kurth

90019455

Dr. Yasmine Ahmed

18 March 2022

Gender Explora on Table

In Farha Ghannam’s “To live and die like a Man,” she introduces the topic of “being a
man” in one of Egypt’s working class neighborhoods throughout different life cycles, star ng
childhood. . She focuses the first chapter, Uncertain Trajectories: the Joys and Sorrows of
Boyhood, on a young boy named Ahmed and some of the consequences, good and bad, he
faced growing up to be a proper man in his society’s eyes. Ahmed grew up with a single mother,
who was also feeling the pressure of being a good mother in the eyes of her peers, and this
caused his mother to be strict with him so he would grow up and do all the right things a man is
supposed to do. I felt the effects of this were highlighted when Ghannam reported on Ahmed’s
mother’s disciplinary behavior with him. She o en resorted to physical violence to keep Ahmed
in check, but we see that this has caused him to be afraid of his mother and do things, like lying
and deceiving, that are generally considered not a good sign of character. I think this chapter
shows the contradic on of being so focused on one’s child turning into a good man, that those
around the boy can lose sight of what is good character. I gained a new perspec ve reading this
because in America, as men oned in the text, raising children well typically means they are
independent, while in Egypt a young boy’s autonomy and independence are not seen as signs of
good paren ng but rather disobedience by the boy or lack of discipline by his family.

In Petra Kuppinger’s “In Muslin Socie es in the Age of Mass Consump on: Poli cs,
Culture, and Iden ty between the Local and the Global,” she focuses on consumerism and
religion and the interac on of these two in the world through Muslim Barbie-like dolls. In
Chapter 10, Barbie, Razanne, Fulla: A Tale of Culture, Globaliza on, Consumerism, and Islam,
Kuppinger uses Barbie and two dolls’ names Razanne and Fulla to illustrate th
at “economic forces are quick to discover and exploit new ethnic markets and niches” and its
affect on religion and culture. Razanne and Fulla were created in in a way to reject Barbie and
western standards and culture seemingly being pushed on the Arab world through the intense
globaliza on of Barbie. These Muslim dolls are more iden fiable to young girls growing up
because they are dressed and have jobs that young girls in the Muslim community are more
likely to see. Humanlike dolls in general are controversial in Islam, so I believe that, while even
with good inten ons, producing ethnic-dolls is simply a response to the con nuously growing
children’s market and increasing consumerism around the world: “Fulla and Razanne are
indirect descendants of the western popular queen Barbie, yet they reject the central elements
of “barbieness.”. I do think that young girls having dolls they can iden fy with and see
themselves in is posi ve because, as men oned in the ar cle, many Muslim girls will not see
themselves or the people they know in Barbie, which can create an issue of self esteem and
feeling like they cannot fit in with what the world “wants” in a woman. This is a very complex
issue with so many factors that I believe comes down to one's opinions on globaliza on and
consumerism because, at the end of the day, Razanne and Fulla were created to fill a market
gap that Barbie was unsuccessful in.

Both of these readings focus on gender norms in the context of Arab socie es. I feel that
the first reading “Uncertain trajectories: The Joys and Sorrows of Childhood” gave be er insight
into specific cultural and gender norms. This reading focused a lot on what it meant to be a man
across me . It highlighted the things he must do, must not do, and the hypocrisy in some of
that and used Ahmed to show the conflict that presents itself to young boys. The second
reading “In Muslin Socie es in the Age of Mass Consump on: Poli cs, Culture, and Iden ty
between the Local and the Global” focused on consumerism and its effects on culture and
religion, and how these things perpetuated and fueled exis ng gender norms. It also highlighted
the difference in gender norms between Western and Eastern socie es. Barbie was rejected in
the Arab world because she was a working, sexy, consumerist woman who is more common in
western socie es, and that does highlight some of the gender norms for women in the Arab
world. One big gender role that was seen in this reading was the fact that Barbie also had male
dolls, and there was only ever one male doll made for young Muslim boys because the market,
due to gender norms, was not there for young boys.