Reviews for US hegemony and international organizations

The average rating for US hegemony and international organizations based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-09 00:00:00 Shawn Oliver "There was a boulder lodged in my throat. My heart surged pitifully. I knew what the boulder was; that it was a word; and that behind that word I would find my earliest emotions.”- Alice Walker, Possessing the Secret of Joy Tashi, an African woman from the Olinkan tribe, marries Adam, an American man, and spends most of her life in America. Witnessing her sister, Dura, die from a botched female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery, as well as undergoing FGM herself, Tashi becomes traumatized and has to be treated by psychotherapists who try to find the root of her mental instability. This was an extremely tough read but any book about FGM is bound to be. The book questions the patriarchal societies that encourage FGM and other such restrictive practices. FGM is compared to foot-binding in China, another patriarchal practice that was used to control women.In Lisa See’s book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the sister of the main character dies due to a bungled foot-binding procedure. It’s quite disturbing that in both cases brainwashing is in effect and women are told that these practices will make them more desirable to their husbands AND will also allow them to become welcome members of society: “Even today there are villages where an uncircumcised woman is not permitted to live. The chiefs enforce this. On the other hand, circumcision is a taboo that is never discussed. How then do the chiefs know how to keep it going? How is it talked about?” The book is made up of several short chapters, each concentrating on one character narrating their thoughts. It shows how everyone: spouses, friends, children, can be affected by FGM, not just the woman who undergoes the surgery. This book is very Jungian in its approach, Jung even makes several appearances as Mzee (Swahili honorific for an elderly man), Tashi's first psychotherapist. The most horrifying thing about this book is that FGM is still practiced in many countries. However, this book makes a statement; Alice Walker gives a voice to the women who have experienced FGM and have no voice. Walker shows how tradition can sometimes be oppressive. I was impressed by how Walker tackled such a controversial topic and with cultural sensitivity as well. I think her Jungian approach while delving into symbolism was extremely interesting. Because I've only recently gotten into Jung I feel I need to re-read this book once I've read a bit more Jung. I took this book on vacation with me last week, I was initially very worried about reading it as it isn't exactly cheerful reading. I can't say I enjoyed reading this book but it's the type of book I'm very glad to have read.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-08-22 00:00:00 Gabriella Martinelli "RESISTANCE IS THE SECRET OF JOY!" Those words, at the very end of an emotional molotov cocktail of a novel, are not for the main character alone, even though they offer her comfort at the moment of her death. Those words are meant for the reader of the multilayered, polyphonic hymn to the human spirit. Reading the statistics is hard enough: one will be shocked to know what happens to women in societies where genital mutilation for the sake of control - under the euphemistic expression of "tradition" - is regularly practiced. But will one have a strong opinion? Will one openly speak up against barbarity and child abuse on a massive scale? Probably not. And that is where fiction is more powerful than any report can possibly be: it makes us share the life and the pain of someone who KNOWS, someone who FEELS, someone whose life is destroyed by the wound her own people gave her in order to "follow custom". There is no grey zone between right and wrong in some cases. This is one of them. Deliberately mutilating young girls to take away their ability to feel sexual pleasure is a crime against humanity, and it comes with so many side effects that they alone are a horror story to retell: endless pain during menstruation, difficulties to move properly, extreme pain during sexual intercourse, high risk of complications during pregnancy and especially childbirth, infection, incessant bleeding and so on. Some girls die of the procedure itself. What it does to the psyche is Tashi's story. It left me raw, hurting inside for all the women around the world who suffer from male weakness and insecurity, who suffer from their families' fear of their independence, choice and pleasure. There is no excuse whatsoever, religious or tribal or patriarchal, for genital mutilation. As one of the characters points out at one point in the novel: if men paused to imagine a ritual that forced upon them a ritual penis amputation at the age of ten or eleven, leaving only the tiniest hole to urinate under severe difficulties, then they would know what is done to women. But they would still not know what it is like to be raped and broken up after having gone through that humiliating and incapacitating procedure, and they would not have to give birth after having destroyed the natural conditions under which birth is meant to take place. Possessing the secret of joy, a human right!