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Gender and Society, Vol. 19, No. 5 (Oct., 2005), pp. 680-700 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27640835 . Accessed: 06/03/2013 06:12
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Perspective
on the complex positioning of people from disempowered backgrounds with respect liberal dividends. The author offers the term liberal bargain, paraphrasing Deniz "ethnic bargain," and dwells on the inter "patriarchal bargain" and Cynthia Cockburn's
between the three. The liberal bargain indicates the particular consciousness and symbolic that "colorized" (i.e., excluded/oppressed) whitening people tend to adopt when they attempt to cash in on the liberal promise. Within the discourse of postcolonial feminism, the concept is intended topromote the discussion color metaphors of power habitually among women, differentials through refining the analytically used to address issues of hegemony and ethnocentrism. dissatisfactory
Keywords:
whiteness;
liberal
bargain;
patriarchy;
ethnicity;
lib
In
how their
to the objective available under each opportunities according particular of patriarchy. Such from collaboration, responses range eager whereby mores maneu act as devout of patriarchal to skillful and values, guardians to make overt to while levels of and different conflict, avoiding gains passive
NOTE: / thank my many feminist sisters for years of inspiring discussions and experiences. was made possible thanks to the generous funding of the Wenner-Grenn Foundation and the Trust; most important, thanks to the kindness and openness of many Palestinian Lady Davis Fellowship individuals. I also thank editor Christine Williams and the anonymous readers for their comments and Rosovsky for his careful editing of the manuscript.
Murray
REPRINT University
: Amalia Sa 'ar,University of Haifa, Department REQUESTS of Sociology and Anthropology, of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; e-mail: saaram@ soc.haifa.ac.il.
GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 19No. 5, October 2005 680-700 DOI: 10.1177/0891243205278405 ? 2005 Sociologists forWomen in Society 680
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681
forms
on one hand and of patriarchal oppression to with respect power/disempowerment the from system that by and large works against the unequal their particular
to convey the complex on the other. She women, on some their women stage likely
or on
depending women
are more
identified as a major
gender orders.
source of
from
establish
the bargain
There
is, I would
direction and Cockburn of Kandiyoti and analytical a broader to include perspec political-economic also a liberal Some members of margin suggest, bargain.
alized groups internalize liberal epistemology tomaximize security and optimize their life options. They strategize tomaterialize whatever limited benefits they may extract from their disadvantaged position in the liberal order. Like patriarchal and
ethnic ferent bargains, levels of liberal bargains may have many variations, and and they include dif commitment, and action, discourse, namely, behaviors tend to range from it for and meaning making. and actively internalizing short-term gains while avoiding of resistance. active forms process whereby mem
authority, of the
investments,
concept
to a particular
bers of disadvantaged
to a degree. few seem members
groups become
order, at least
the hierarchical and selective a of liberal orders, character Despite quite of marginalized some to stand or benefits from groups them, gain to believe that they do. Many of those who face exclusion because of their attributes of women) occupation, they often or racial background, their ethnic and their gender (notably at the same some time enjoy to their thanks may advantages, or to other ascribed traits that are less stigmatized. Not coin
a liberal on the Local discourses adopt epistemology. politics are quick to condemn as forms or see them as such tendencies of sellout to deny forlorn the barriers I suggest that attempts by skin color. However, imposed sense the process of mental in of the modes of response, adopting knowing, by peo
ple on the fringes of the liberal order who face a complex of blockades and partial opportunities, is important to ponder. The concept of the liberal bargain facilitates a
consideration admits prevalent of cultural and attributes, dynamic and behaviors social states. among identities, It therefore people and social consciousness that intermediate worldviews allows living a nuanced under of reading condi oppressive
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682
GENDER
& SOCIETY
/ October
2005
tions.
This
is doubly
relevant
to women.
For
them,
liberal
ideologies
hold
particu
larly promising
time as actual
prospects
liberal regimes
at the same
1998).
I will exemplify
women are citizens of significantly
I elaborate Israel's elements liberal below, although some it still offers ethno-national by the state's agenda, to its most the Palestin citizens. Among marginalized practices drive and tend to combine cultural a firm political awareness with aspect celebra of the of to preserve indeed
a keen
of modernity,
liberalism,
Israeliness.
of the professional dis are particularly confusing face multiple but also oppressions bargain addresses precisely to the domi of their ethnic in the to some
liberal
of thinking, knowing,
respect the basis will
(national, closing
affiliation
the article,
the concept
be discussed contribution
ongoing
debates within
feminism. Because
between social from a politics on
location
to move
impossibility
a politics of
to
focuses
I start by outlining
next section is dedicated I then move patriarchy. embedding eral of my
that underlies
of or "white"
the analysis,
ethnicity,
so the
and and its
liberalism,
in dominant
masculinities,
to treat women
domi
Palestinian
of postcolonial
MULTIPLE ETHNICITY,
This article approaches
PATRIARCHY,
gender, class,
mutually informing. This theoretical position has been extensively formulated by several scholars (e.g., Allen and Macey 1994; Anthias and Yuval Davis 1992; O'Connor 1993). In a comprehensive theoretical article, Floya Anthias (1998,527)
writes heuristic that while purposes, gender, their "ethnos ontological [sic]" and class may domains intersect be analytically and become separated constitutive for of
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into the analysis of racial and ethnic exclusion is perti Bringing gender to reversing a one-dimensional of much the tendency to adopt of this literature focus. At the same into the analysis of gender the time, incorporating oppression intersections other major between mechanisms is complex exclusionary promoted as critical to making to women feminists feminism relevant of by postcolonial nent marginalized, colonized, and and their otherwise liberalism historically always and oppressed categories. are very broad terms. specific with
each
other.
Patriarchy, ethnicity, are diverse, selves and Ethnicity, anisms, generic denominator tion. Patriarchy, for one, notably term to
The
forms
is that
differences monolithic
likewise,
far
from
e.g.,
Hardwick
be used (2004) Europe Soviet American issue, here has and Union,
1998; Kandiyoti
sense. as Nanette in a generic there are many Funk liberalisms, Finally, case shown in the of Eastern and Central recently postcommunist the former In Eastern Soviet Union. and Central and the former Europe for example, in nearly or concepts all of liberalism with the have differed from the Anglo usually take the feminist oppression. applies it to the components disembodiment, the claim to gender which virtue
versions namely,
feminists of
individualism, divide,
independence,
public-private struggles
in the region have had use Funk's of the Interestingly, state and postsocialism. both socialism
neutrality. Accordingly, to address its specific forms of gender term liberalism as she is rather loose,
In this article, I too will be using liberalism liberally, as an umbrella term for political orders that promote the idea of civil society, where people are entitled to
certain civil their never freedoms, liberties universal cease are rights, often granted and protection from or withdrawn remains even arbitrary according value, power. Although to collective and these in practice, affiliations, they
a fundamental
consequently,
liberalism and
means
of private Within this general the particular outline, degree property. liberalism and so do the particular bases of inclusion and exclu vary, case sion. The that I present women of Palestinian citizens of Israel, below, study a situation in which to bargain even when, is relevant liberalism with exemplifies due to its intertwining with Zionism, for members its gains of the national minority contents of seem ous minimal. Israel's self-definition as a liberal ethnic order as the state-supported Westernization of the two main each democracy Jews grants has generated has come under over ethnic this seri Pales strati
to some
fications
project national
privileges further To
communities.
criticism,
feminist
militarization women fore
authors
and and within
have
the across of
added
lack of
the direct
separation as a liberal
discriminatory
between lines. democracy state Critical and and
implications
religion debate mean social instead scientists
that
for there
reject
the definition
over
the
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684
(Smooha 2002),
1998), and
it is perti Israel them and is
1999). For the purpose (Yiftachel "ethnocracy" nent and racist that its exclusionary character not an apartheid state as regards the Palestinians its Palestinian the state furnishes collectively,
rights
opportunities
limited character of examination Beyond
and individuals.
their suitable
It is the
for an
constitutes
a symbolic
sys
tem that is intertwined with world historical processes of capitalism and globaliza tion and with modernity. Within these grand projects, the concept of the liberal bar
gain is oriented to lived, localized especially in postcolonial situations, experiences often (see Foster use liberalism 2002). and Local discourses, inter modernity assumes
changeably,
This enlightenment promise." promise a rational view of progress, approach ethnic reality. modern tracking, The evident as part of a more between general link
these
is hardly surprising. masculinity with liberalism arrangements, patriarchal for the realization tools of and political cess, local receptions of modernity have
has perpetuated large, modernity some the of major conceptual providing such outcomes. Within this universal pro been immensely diverse (see, e.g., Abu
1998; Comaroff and Comaroff 1997; Kanaaneh 2002; LiPuma 2000; Lughod Miller 1994), with paradoxical results. On the ground, the powerful drive tomod
ernize has frequently been bound up with forces that seem to contradict its very
essence, notably nationalism (Chatterjee 1986; Dirks 1990) and religious funda mentalism (Hefner 1998).2 All too often, these ideologies buttress highly hierarchi
and explicitly which nevertheless, being modern, patriarchal regimes, as and neutral. themselves imagining gender progressive A working of this article, in its diverse then, is that liberalism, assumption in articulation exists with male domination. Feminist mentations, arguments cal insist on
imple about
the gender-specific
state are well are known rily, to women's the bolstering, sexuality, of modern
institutions
raphy (MacKinnon
character
1989,1993;
political
Pateman
thought,
1988;Walby
the notion
vidualistic,
Kittay of sexual 1999);
independent,
the gendered hence
and existing
nature of
1991 ;
state
(Connell
difference,
1990; Eisenstein
the centrality
1984;Walby
accorded
status
woman
(Connell
with
1991; Wittig
phases,
1992).
is also ethnic and racist
liberalism
(e.g., Davis
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capitalism,
the consumer
is created
as
the citizen.
This
citizen-consumer
is made
possible
noncitizen
and legitimate
or lesser-citizen
labor of racialized,
that ideologies of
heterosexual
women these
femininity, domesticity,
in a variety economies. The of of national civil rights jobs workers in the and unrecognized (unrecognized underpaid, as sense that their work is constructed and temporary, help, merely supplementary, non work) are severely not if denied restricted leav altogether, effectively generally to substandard overworked,
dominant groups.
constitute systems is necessarily orders also, also but the of oppression, and patri ethnic not does liberalism the other its ethnic much tends of the forms and vio
exist
domination. aspects,
it actively
a powerful
gendered lence of
the dominant
groups.
reproduces to naturalize
inclusion that
the overwhelming barriers structural despite captivating consumer celebrated order, culture, through against-all-odds comfort of mass media entertainment. Liberalism dazzling to ever-expanding numbers of individuals. opportunities
surround success
stories,
promises It offers
to choose the grip of primordial ties and the freedom and change seems to offer returns for acquirable human tangible capital, rational and excellence of other resources, generally, handling der, they race, ethnicity, to be, and or but religion. To these are
notably
pretend
gendered graphically
ethnicized,
reiterate, promises unfounded. The middle they are not entirely women does and ethnic include minorities. time that it is structurally exclusive.
inclusive
at the same
man
(1977,
164-65) describes
this
such as order, process by the symbolic categories disadvantaged women cannot and the young, but recognize the legitimacy of the dominant classi in the very of neutralizing those fication fact that their only chance of its effects use to their own to them most to make interests lies in submitting in order contrary of them." To assume tional be accepted, civility, who those obtain who to pull out of the do manage measures of what Marnia to traverse positioning acquired epistemology. male" varying with cultural respect invisible and margins calls "situa distances,
(2000, 32), power" to their relative according On they the way to converting
to ethnicity and gender. economic and social success, and necessary, diverse and cultural with context process the bound. of actual It
meanings
and maleness
of course
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/ October
2005
helps
the successful
accrual
of
symbolic
capital,
and
as I discuss
below,
such mental
accommodation greatly facilitates the daily handling of racism and sexism. The internalization of modes of thinking and knowing is central to the working of the
liberal bargain.
Complicating
Whiteness,
Complicating
Maleness
feminism, in its urge to incorporate ethnicity into the analysis of into feminist oppression, has forcefully integrated the color metaphor
narrative Western dimension names feminism, of agency, emphasis their and and rejects the that (such claiming lives superior the latter approach tends to "women to reduce and housework) 1988; often denounced Mohanty duplicates in con "brown" and of
as reproduction
complex
on difference, which
discursive as
women,
themselves
While
women "white" ally, able Instead
attempt, "go white." My to argue I want that the color metaphor, too general and therefore analytically it would be more useful
women
women,
to consider
cific positioning
fringes At and of dominant different human
with
historical
within
or on the
groups. or so, women's the past hundred years term feminism the with regarded suspicion are at least two reasons for this. One is the per 1991). There major to focus their struggle exclu Western of mainstream, feminists activists have discrimination in gender-mixed while eschewing As other a result, forms of struggle, notably that of feminism
rights
settings.
the version
acknowledged,
well order. off, well Leaving
documented,
educated, out the
and popularized
and white, interests and that
is linked
well
is, fairly
discrimination
or means that groups oppressed an has made feminism exclusionary and Feminism
practice
is its historical
identification,
became widely twen
construed
as a form of ideological
sprang up throughout
imperialism,
despite
as
the colonized
world
(1992) documented
Iran, for culture
this process
in the case of
ver local and colonial example, as the to obstacle progress major the prototypical litmus the for testing paper
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687
level ment,
of
cultural
modernity such,
link between political in the particular historical of an ahistorical the status the major political outside counternarratives, Islam.
notably
postcolonial
nationalism,
Third World
feminist theory
Chela Sandoval
sciousness, feminisms. these
address
divisions
the same all-knowing the argument it too is still locked within goes, at the level of description It incorporates of color mainly feminists logic. to theory. Likewise, accounts normative of but disregards their original contribution movement in the United it as pri the second-wave feminist States depict inaccurately hegemonic of women of color and middle in femi white class. The intense engagement marily nist work women's the is and 1970s during largely ignored, consciousness-raising or debates on the for Women, the founding of the National groups, Organization wave. of wives the exclusive suburban became landmarks of this predicament
Largely,
this has had to do with the fact that the work of women
spaces. with As Becky Thompson feminist (2002) groups; and they feminist white-dominated
of color extended
feminists women's autono Similar of
women-only beyond color have worked caucuses mous Black, in existing Latina,
gender-mixed Native
groups outside
in their is a case
the United
States,
intensified
are considered
in Israeli
historically
their culture
of
Mizrahi
from the groups, groups limitations,
activists
core of despite
(Damary Madar
circles, liberal ethnicized society. its clear class despite society
2002).
women and does It also patriar upward
transparency
in feminist
Liberalism element.
(white
women)
Indeed,
modern
for people
structurally to undo
and occupation, are not sufficient Still, openings, inward. But behind.
related
educa through such achieve structural people to leave as local, exclu from the their thus
in small there
is a price. histories
These
ignored,
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688
colorizing
the boundaries
of
heart
of
civilization,
which
is
framed as global (see Lazreg 2000, 32). Should local histories be incorporated into
the canon, they would defy singular character so central to white
historiography.
called
They would
elements. would the "analytical also cleanliness" primordial They sully to positivistic imperative methodology. a good To strike with of disempowered back members liberalism, bargain
and minority
are in positions to share the liberal dividend. Adopting liberal reduces the friction that their particularistic traits are constantly in
a conscious It enables strategy. or rac forms of sexism symbolic them as harmless noise background even to become blind may totally
this is not necessarily igniting, although from encounter subordinate who groups, to mitigate tolerable Popular then, and such offenses of refers (the among liberal by reclassifying taste. They such
bad
to
acculturation
as "going white." Signifi is largely about conscious subjective and the subordinate alike. also entails maleness. a masculine Adopting outlook. a
whiteness involves
attitudes include
such
gender neutral but whose gendered character is in fact hidden or implicit. They like
wise dominate most local that masculinity have demonstrated, is a fixed multiple and liberalism. Not of modernity, paradigms ethnicity, or a monolithic As several scholars phenomenon. entity tend to coexist in given cultural of masculinity models
settings (Connell
vergence of maleness
1995; Cornwall
and whiteness
and Lindisfarne
represent
the close
liberal regimes.
then,
are matters of historical conscious decidedly a formidable in practical experience, they assume are anchored in robust of power. character because regimes they are essen to the between amenable tensions particularly exposing aspects white-male classified maleness minority to the core of women. are not But from render at once identities. Being exclusionary not entirely out of reach also to prerogatives as nonmales As dominant identi and nonwhites. of social and whiteness govern and concep thought so to be particularly as highly educated upper from majority, the center since respects, the
constructionist they
individuals ties tion among middle-class too. White members even as and
of many
tends
automatically may
further positioned people of the ethnic individuals white the basis in certain of their
minorities
become on
important
individual
cease
to be white
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descriptive
are cially ment The doxical. feminisms), of the liberal still
they
espe
to derive likely when accompanied well within one has hand, inculcated On also effects On
entitle
and may
a marginalizing of
feminism feminism,
para (liberal
limitations popu
order.
the widest
gender discrimination,
and which
while
to
the woman,
refuses
link gender
crimination nificant their own
issues with
is vital,
Fighting
and
numbers logic;
it challenges embrace
for better
feminist discourse
invocations an make
whiteness
in the process.
Imentioned
feminist argues, history would
Chela Sandoval's
are, take a despite paradigm
(1991) contention
and hegemonic. she points
themselves, shift,
that Third World feminists have enacted during the past 30, now 40, years. This fifth mode, which Sandoval calls "differential," is profoundly antithetical to the
others. enactment and all of ment ential It is not historically organized, revolutionary, other. Instead, and therefore very of their and it does not privilege one oppositional (equal rights, over any separatist) these possible mode enactments between transforms supremacist it recognizes incorporates different hegemonic women-are-better-than-men, the potential them. attitudes Through and effectiveness making move the differ contrast to of
versions.
strategies, In glaring
preoccupation with what Christine Di Stefano ( 1991, 60) in calls "the need for singular identity," the subjectivity ofMasculinity
is a tactical who one struggle ideology on one. to survive It is a political version, in the face of answer, of therefore oppression some that collective their liberal proud anchored poverty in the and exclu people to be life
denies
recenter,
my
arguments of as sets
citizens them
individuals, to such
attempts.
against
Notwithstanding the state, as they claim in Israel tend to grow and ways even celebrate of
entitlements,
or gender,
comfortable increasingly While thinking. they do not deny the liberal reduces them, bargain
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& SOCIETY
/ October
2005
the power
of
these
to note
to shape a critical It is social consciousness. components identity state racism and the highly Israeli-Palestinian antagonistic besides liberal forms of resis and diverse bargains, segregation that the scope of the present discussion.
The
Liberal
Promise
and
women,
anthropological
ethno-national, them to vote same Israeli echelons. ployment, extenuate severe certain and time
rights appeal
structurally
Palestinian oppression
(Espanioly
exposed Glazer
Abu-Ras
state acts violence lenged who
1994; Haj-Yahia
as a passive (Hasan the state 2002).
1995; Shalhoub-Kevorkian
of patriarchal preserver over the years, women's for women general under
or active However,
suffer
promotion Israeli
Palestinian As of the
them
or colored.
implications
transparency of liberal,
space liberal,
in this
women
as Israeli Pales are ostensibly are complex, for people who its very negation also derive the liberal order. Deniz from meaning Kandiyoti positive inform choices but do not merely women's rational "Patriarchal bargains the more unconscious aspects of their gendered subjectivity" (1988,
shape
285). This
Zionist ponent lives
characterization
of Israeli Kanaaneh
is applicable
culture
to liberal bargains
exclusive,
also. Although
the
com
the modern-liberal
(northern
Israel),
how they feature in a nuanced and complex jigsaw of national and ethnic identities. From a different angle, Hanna Herzog (2004) ponders why only 18 out of 108 edu
cated ism" Israeli in their Palestinian life stories, women which interviewed were offenses of replete for with her research used the term "rac instances of blunt discrimination, they were society, dominant
absence
because that they suffered directly term "racism" the explicit in a racialized of the term in the for legitimacy
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in Israel Jews
and
a strong
tendency women
between it indicates
how
reproduce
language
of the dominant group as well as dominant knowledge" (p. 61). in Herzog's (2004) interpretation, the dominated women adopt the lan While (2002) presentation, they claim it, the guage of their domination, in Kanaaneh's
language bargain, first glance. where of modernity, the reports The of as these their two own. However, have from more authors the perspective of the liberal seem at than may in common more potential substantial entrances points to the prevents the benefits A woman made of 40 the fol
Palestinian
civil privileged such excursions that odd they years yield from
segregation acceptance,
be underestimated. research,
comment of what the Arabs here lowing our me a for it's I in the village about taken break. Karmiel lands, say great having or can go there and have to all by myself, the coffee hair mall, go get my shopping a to start up a business for me I know there. done. And that there's always possibility come to my clients from hair salon in the village" I have many Jewish there, who
I am in the Israeli society and I have no doubt that I took and absorbed things from
essentialist life experience on discourse is partly Israeli" national identities, (2004, this 76). Well versed a in the highly local edu particular verbalized and woman,
cated political
weaken repeating her
Palestinianness,
phrases
assimilating"
what I have." The women represented inKanaaneh's (2002) ethnography did just the same but mostly without the explicit identity terminology. They consumed, desired, planned when to have babies, or kept healthy with a specific vision of
modernity depictions Another combination strong in mind, emerge which in my was own combined with work a vivid sense of minority. 2004). Palestinians on This one was hand is the and Similar 2000, (Sa'ar ethnographic the contradictory of Israeli situation concerns localized and identities global orientations on the other.
national,
and
lucidly
brought home to me one day inMay 2004, when in the midst of a large Israeli launched military operation in the occupied city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza
Strip, ugees destroying yet again, (from tens of residential and killing the town several buildings, dozens turning of people, inside Israel) hundreds the Arab won of families soccer team cup. The into ref Abna' mili
the state
a sense
a series of demonstrations inside provoked to be highly that emotional, slogans using crimes. and war Israeli Palestinians Many One of these demonstrations, staged on
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2005
the far southern border of Gaza Strip, took place the same day that the Sakhneen
team won mood the cup. Hearing dramatically. told me, of elation." the score One "We of on their bus changed the participants, traveled there sad television of the demonstrators' trip back north, a radical feminist Salwa called and returned broadcasted with did the happy. It was a tre of Pal a brief It is
Israeli streets
Sakhneen,
weeping soccer,
the underdog
plausible
conveyed
bility of succeeding against all odds, of shortcutting the laborious course of the organized leagues, and of breaking right through to the top. The tearful men in the
street who said on Israeli television that the victory was a proof that coexistence was
the sweet the respect for a hard-won and a rare battle, victory, enjoying gained some from of getting mainstream media. attention the positive Although a proper soccer more to demand the opportunity in Sakhneen, stadium explicit avoided. then, Israeli Palestinians enthusiastically
pursue practices of modernity, individualistic mobility, and local patriotism while engaging in political discourses of historical justice, which defy and blame Israel's self-declared liberalism. Localization is happening despite salient discursive
moves to relate ethnic, this to emphasize internal religious, the national divisions and But unity to a Zionist historical it reflects of Palestinians scheme divisions the liberal to divide among within and and rule. outside Partly, Israel and the various reinforce temporary or
regional mostly,
orientation.
condition,
face of liberal
tie together the gendered, and class components of the liberal bargain, ethnic, to one at the age of 32 got a master's that of Yara, who in last example, degree Imet Yara education from one of the major Israeli universities. through my research on unmarried or so years Palestinian and over the seven of our acquain women, come to I have her in wisdom and her prolonged tance, courage appreciate handling non wedded preoccupied servatism was also status. with Like her many other status, their fear unmarried keen of aberrant and women Yara was in her community, to get married, at the con and frustrated women. At the same she time, independent to continue and and a career ambitious, teacher her education despite would her impede she was therefore and in different
and
adamant education
Hard
working studies,
as a school
administrative
Yara worldview
jobs at theMinistry
of the Islamic
of Education.
bargain, as she combines being a strong religiously modernist observant. identity without
liberal
Despite
(Erdreich
her potential
and Rapoport
exposure
2002),
to critical
Yara's
of Education
as a
engagement
production,
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and
research
assistant,
revolved her
consistently
around
conservative,
analyses. with
for Arab
dissonance.
of Education
thinking, public schools
Yara
universal-liberal
political
Arab This
impli
and narra
tive habitually
ination tism against of Arab
human
within
sion of
the discus
attitude is not to bene
rare among
likely
and oppres
in it served as a fam
a lower-class
ily background,
profession and a ticket liberal The estinian ambivalent has to the
her
tone,
of course,
with
Pal
deeply episte
are often
mology
in local articulations
rhetoric. range The from levels
the
increasingly popular ism and other available their gains, as authority, for example,
liberal
liberalisms case
internalizing
in the
of Yara, participation
through
to passive
active
forms of resistance (e.g., Erdreich 2003). Bargaining with liberalism does not exclude the possibility of resistance. Those who tread the liberal path may join in
collective of action or critical possibilities discourse, open on the objective on depending to them. However, the context the more and people on have their sense invested
through celebrating
a critical identities, are dynamic and
images of modernity,
which
or to act they are to develop Cultural social attributes, affected by liberal bargains,
They phenomena. and citizenship. ethnicity, I end this briefcase systems, as collective
limitations
bargains, to change from accumulating the existing relations. The power exceptions a good of the state soccer case to sum il-Sakhneen cup by Abna' provides the fragility of Israeli Palestinians' entitlements for liberal participation. For
in successful
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& SOCIETY
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2005
the demonstrators local moment national protest looked team was an happy
who
then
in Gaza, Israel's protesting brutality savor a moment to of national opportunity in that particular the next, phase, they were Even Salwa, the relentless within soccer feminist whom the Palestinian and rejoiced
were
the victory
of
the one
belonging.
I heard
with
in the town of
support
Sakhneen,
symbolic
for the state's liberal claims that itsArab citizens can enjoy full cultural participa tion, regardless of the hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians. Sociologist
Nuhad 'Ali, who conducted some interviews with functionaries in the Sakhneen
the commentaries
the supporters
that
represented
coinci
(personal communication
the ethno-national matched victory, also on the
after
a Sakhneen
Cup preliminaries,
calling
stadiums
from
outcries
to bar Arabs
So liberal bargains seem to reach their limits, and their gains risk being lost, when they touch and expose the ethnic (or racial) nerves that underlie the liberal
order. arena ference nents of The of of Arab naming players liberal inclusion. the Yet for the Israeli national team has made soccer an dif successive victories highlighted the exclusionary reinforced groups, this the national
among soccer.
compo balance
delicate
between
unarticulated,
individual
inclusion
and collective
when
exclusion
they bargain
is deep-seated,
with liberalism,
if mostly
Palestin
knowledge.
Therefore,
ians tend to keep their efforts on an individual level and pick carefully the aspects of their difference to be allowed in. For example, speaking Arabic in public places
may be too risky at times and allowed and even appreciated at others, depending on
at any given A similar the general level of ethnic rule antagonism period. women to met is who Their allowed in, occupy applies public positions. femininity an aesthetic to contribute and at times added is even speaking, thought aphorically women seem to but such tolerance be when reversed "take over" value, may quickly public space.5
From
to Identification I have for the need to refine disadvantaged of focusing at the type the tools of assessment within affiliation they stand to of the lib
In this behavior
argued
consciousness
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Sa'ar
/ THE
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BARGAIN
695
as it is in ethnic
aspect of in liberal for partici
agentive Because
mechanisms
entirely
possibilities
for members
of marginalized
groups,
actors concentrate often groups, have within tive as they may be, that they may are heavily to adopt, to one degree inclined
on the advantages, and selec partial order. In the process, the existing they or another, the hegemonic epistemol are of
"being or in terms of individualized and desires," which and among," are For these Jonasdottir, opposing conceptions subjective. seemingly primarily a are not necessarily exclusive. While formal conditions certainly play mutually as a group, whose interests of civil participation crucial role in classifying people and actual entitlement are within discernible, clearly the category, how the content view their of the needs and desires be reduced of cannot
interests, they people to the arbitrary that placed them chance in it. This historical theorization, according us to common to Chandra "allows T. Mohanty interests (1999, 378), acknowledge on the basis of systematic of social location and potential and expe agency aspects . . . the more of under while fundamental rience, open deeper, question keeping of around the needs, and choices and organizing desires, (the question standing critical, transformative consciousness)."
the diverse
the "color as they
issues presented
of the body" are produced liberal in par
in
and
ticular historical contexts and the degree towhich persons identify with their identi
ties, I have discussed how members of subordinate groups adopt epistemol
ogy. To bring my argument about the liberal bargain to its logical conclusion,
now to the complementary (in their demographic which case of people characteristics) who are but "white" not in the in the sense sense of of among" desires." The cultural modate need
I turn
of people in fixed trappings accom cannot and white" categories, despises people "go are prevalent Yet these that with "brown" minds. "white" options people to be considered Feminist of Palestinian Jewish men, supporters seriously. politics of identity, "brown" who
thrives
on essentialist
rights, Ashkenazi
combinations are
endorsers of Mizrahi
significant also who to such often articulate outside are for
epistemology
of social
(Shohat 2001),
transformation.
and parallel
Moreover,
processes
disjunctions
sciousness politicized are also class whether
between
occur
(privileged)
the
social background
obvious circles positioned For example,
and (critical)
of political to reap the liberal
social con
Non privileges,
activists.
conveniently
processes.
career
or not
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696
GENDER
& SOCIETY
/ October
2005
relatively unable
safe
from
or unwilling
injury by to dismiss
routine them. of
sexist, Critical
racist,
or classist
offenses, in other
be may
consciousness, and
affluence
nurture
conservative
as experiences
feminists
rendered
from dominant
them "white," as
in the example of Adrienne Rich's (1984) political reading of her own body/person. To comprehend their deeply contradictory situation, without reducing it to being either oppressed or oppressive, feminists located in proximity to the liberal well
need racism. ety's lenged dends to name Through definition to see of and politicize encounters their with pain and people oppression, "stand who their own tackling alongside . . soci of. outside the circle 99), these feminists True, are chal
the privilege
physical
between
historical
it "as a fund of necessary seeing polarities like a dialectic" 1983, 99), becomes (Lorde
odology
is helpful
in discerning
too personally.
Such an attitude in turn is necessary tomove from denial and guilt to responsibility and mutual exchange (Russo 1991) and to replace an essentialist and limited poli tics of identity with a politics of identification.
A social politics identities, of and identity social assumes unilinear consciousness. between causality It urges the racialized cultural members attributes, of soci
as a way a consciousness to of their exclusion of the particular ety to develop history to "think Black" In color "Blacks" should action. terminology, galvanize popular loss liberate To "think white," for racialized themselves. potential people, implies of By identity. sense of social implies outweigh that the same identity the class in dominant logic, people and social consciousness. and ethnic exclusion, privileges that are "white" in the dual categories also A politics of identity usually at the core of liberal orders of women
than gendered. them more "white" leaving hierarchical is such unsatisfactory, reasoning argued Against account combina it cannot for nuanced and politically. Analytically, analytically which and social tions of social cultural consciousness, attributes, empir positions, to be more would admit. than discourses reveals ical research identity complex their this gender line, I have Likewise, appears of the "white" demia, or class If it of ethnic is not derivative gender oppression oppressions. to be that way, this is the result in the case of women from dominant groups, historical women postcolonial social interrelations between modes will whiteness of knowing benefit from and maleness, thinking. which Outside from leads aca his
and
embracing
people
torically privileged groups who share its critical outlook, without denouncing
particular
their
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LIBERAL
BARGAIN
697
NOTES
1. See, for example, the scholarly debate, launched mostly during the 1990s, whether the increas rhetoric among the Palestinian citizens of Israel indicates radicalization and a weak ingly nationalistic in democratic politics (Landau ening of their civic identity, or Israelization, namely, healthy participation 1993; Rekhess 1998; Smooha 1989; Rosenhek 1989). 2. For a review of the duality inherent inmodernity, most notably the tensions between autonomy and or democracy and capitalism, see Delanty (1999). fragmentation, liberty and discipline, 3. I did anthropological fieldwork with Israeli Palestinians in 1993-1994 and again in 1997-1999, with one of my major foci being women and gender issues. My primary research methodology was par I lived for more than a year in each of the two respective urban communities that I ticipant observation. studied and, during these periods, socialized intensively with local people; I visited homes as well as entertained inmy own apartment, did volunteer work in three local nongovernmental and organizations, attended a diverse range of cultural, social, and political activities. I also held several dozen formal and informal interviews and some focus groups. Parallel tomy professional I have been involved experience, in a variety of groups working toward a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, within and In 1987-1988, outside Israeli feminism. this involvement included a year's residence in a rural Pales in the center of Israel. tinian community 4. The dual definition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state implies that its Palestinian citizens are eligible for basic liberal rights but are denied most forms of of the population) rights (Ghanem 2000; Shafir and Peled 2002; Smooha 2002). They are exposed to a variety of as well as direct and indirect discrimination, while at the same time enjoying certain policing methods, degrees of individual protection and opportunities. 5. A vivid example is found in the active avoidance by female Hebrew and Arabic speakers in Israel (roughly collective 18 percent of using feminine grammatical forms (Sa'ar n.d.).
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Amalia
is a cultural anthropologist. She does research among Israeli Palestin Sa'ar, Ph.D., on gender politics and urban conditions. Her latest research project is on micro Israeli women of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. She enterprise among disempowered ians, focusing teaches at the University of Haifa, Israel.
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