Postcolonial Feminism, the Politics of Identification, and the Liberal Bargain Author(s): Amalia Sa'ar Reviewed work(s): Source:

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

POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM, THE POLITICS OF IDENTIFICATION, AND THE LIBERAL BARGAIN

AMALIA SA'AR University of Haifa

The article focuses to liberalism and Kandiyoti's connections

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:

postcolonial feminism; eral epistemology

whiteness;

liberal

bargain;

patriarchy;

ethnicity;

lib

In
how their

1988, Deniz Kandiyoti

women life living options. under She

introduced the term "the patriarchal bargain" to explain

to maximize responses and optimize security to male dominance vary

strategize patriarchy showed that women's

widely, variant women vering

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

active resistance. Kandiyoti

AUTHOR'S Fieldwork

thus sought to distinguish

among different degrees and

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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Sa'ar

/ THE

LIBERAL

BARGAIN

681

forms

of women within benefit cycle women's

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

positioning argued stand in the to strike that to life a

or on

arrangements, gender familial status. Such

depending women

are more

bargain with patriarchy

acquiescence

than to resist it. This was

and accommodation

identified as a major
gender orders.

source of

to existing related term

Recently, Cynthia Cockburn

archal ethnic Julius sents bargain, context. Mathews the power along with Cockburn (Cockburn relations some suggests 2004) in any

(2004) proposed applying

other the calls given concepts "ethnic order," order."

the concept of the patri

to the theory, what Jill paraphrasing ethnic order The repre gender an initial social dif

from

the "gender society, are which

establish

ferentiation by ethnicity, which

Certain gain," members that is, of disadvantaged to provide services in the

then permeates and underpins all other distinctions.

groups to the likely dominant to sign up for an "ethnic ethnic in exchange group bar for

patronage I want expand tive.

or protection. to continue the notion of

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

Accordingly, promoting conflictive The

attitudes liberal emotional

authority, of the

investments,

concept

to working with to passive liberal refers bargain

to a particular

bers of disadvantaged
to a degree. few seem members

groups become

identified with the hegemonic

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

demographic in the case education, cidentally, of identity

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

of liberation from primordial oppressions

perpetuate their subordination (Barriteau

at the same
1998).

I will exemplify
women are citizens of significantly

the notion of the liberal bargain with

Israel. As

the case of Palestinian

weakened even local

relevant ian citizens national tions

opportunities of the state, exclusion and

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.

authenticity, This complex

lives of a national minority, which by its very definition

most course immediate on Israeli enemy, has eluded Israeli the local and much women Palestinians.1 framings, advantages. members a way out as they The Palestinian

is identified with its state's

for formalistic enjoy important

simultaneously of the notion

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

this type of situation. It holds up a mirror to diverse modes

and behaving nant order, among offering racial...) part of of marginalized from treating or structural categories actors solely with on As

of thinking, knowing,
respect the basis will

(national, closing

affiliation

the article,

the concept

positioning. a particular also makes

be discussed contribution

ongoing

debates within

feminism. Because
between social from a politics on

the liberal bargain admits and in fact

and of social consciousness, is focused it can on the identity, which

anticipates disjunctions as a useful serve tool

location

to move

impossibility
a politics of

of joint action by women

identification, which

of diverse social and ethnic backgrounds,

the opposite.

to

focuses

I start by outlining
next section is dedicated I then move patriarchy. embedding eral of my

the theoretical framework

to on the interconnectedness liberal offering color to explore

that underlies
of or "white"

the analysis,
ethnicity,

so the
and and its

liberalism,

consciousness who adopt

in dominant

masculinities,

to treat women

domi

nant ways of thinking according

bargain analysis, rather first than of to their Israeli

to their specific positioning with respect to the lib

skin or This will form the basis alone. gender women as an case and study, exemplary

Palestinian

then of the applicability

of postcolonial

feminist politics across the color lines.

MULTIPLE ETHNICITY,
This article approaches

PATRIARCHY,
gender, class,

OF ARTICULATIONS AND LIBERALISM

and ethnicity as interconnected and

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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Sa'ar

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683

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

implementations additional Accordingly, of exclusion and (see,

them archetypes more so. much mech it as a

is almost race, indicate they

intertwined nationalism. possible essentialized

religion, various produce is

exclusionary use I will whose naturalized Anzilotti

forms

common domina 2002;

is that

differences monolithic

likewise,

far

from

e.g.,

Hardwick
be used (2004) Europe Soviet American issue, here has and Union,

1998; Kandiyoti

1988; Lee and Clark 2000; Miller

1998), and it too will

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

character to exist entirely, commitment

a fundamental

consequently,

liberalism and

means

in the margins. Within to the rule of law, to the

contours, ideological limitation of political power,

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

challenge, and as the Zionist tinians within

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

the ethno-national Israel

reject

the definition

over

the

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684

GENDER & SOCIETY /October 2005

terms "ethnic democracy"

(Smooha 2002),

"ethnic state" (Ghanem

of the present discussion, practices inside citizens

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,

notwithstanding, it.While it oppresses with an array case of

rights

opportunities
limited character of examination Beyond

that are important in the lives of families

of their liberal entitlements liberal norms, that renders of the the operation an aggregate of political bargain. liberalism

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,

the latter representing what Eudine Barriteau

of a better quality of to human affairs,

(1998) has called "the

life a linear

This enlightenment promise." promise a rational view of progress, approach ethnic reality. modern tracking, The evident as part of a more between general link

inclination elements By and

these

to and persistent blindness to compartmentalize complex of and familiar characteristics

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

character of liberal rights and the patriarchal basis of the liberal

and will within through not be repeated bills here. of civil Among the main of men's prostitution, of issues, exclusive curso modern the rights, of marriage, right or pornog as

institutions

raphy (MacKinnon
character

1989,1993;
political

Pateman
thought,

1988;Walby

1990); the deeply masculine

the person indi

particularly state mechanisms

the notion

vidualistic,
Kittay of sexual 1999);

independent,
the gendered hence

and existing
nature of

in separation from others (Di Stefano

and procedures, to the political and of

1991 ;
state

capitalism and man

Together

(Connell
difference,

1990; Eisenstein
the centrality

1984;Walby
accorded

1986); and the axiomatic

entities

status

woman

(Connell
with

1996; Okin M?ller

its various patriarchal

1991; Wittig
phases,

1992).
is also ethnic and racist

liberalism

(e.g., Davis

1981). Chandra Talpade Mohanty

(1999) notes that under advanced

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Sa'ar

/ THE

LIBERAL

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685

capitalism,

the consumer

is created

as

the citizen.

This

citizen-consumer

is made

possible
noncitizen

and legitimate
or lesser-citizen

through the cheap and often invisible

minorities. Mohanty exposes the role

labor of racialized,
that ideologies of

heterosexual
women these

femininity, domesticity,

and docility play in channeling Third World

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,

ing the sphere of civil society to the ethnically

Since liberal archal. operate of class, bargain Racism in ethnicethnicity, that operates and sexism and gender at their mutually conjuncture outside liberal zones, has and

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,

or gender-free Yet liberalism which leads

it actively

a powerful

gendered lence of

the dominant

groups.

to sublimating The image of openness

ability or whitewashing and

reproduces to naturalize

inclusion that

to remain the liberal or the

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

ever-expanding an escape from affiliations. It also education,

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.

of gen irrespective than far narrower class, while

It is demo This acts as an

inclusive

at the same

important source of legitimacy

grand members dream of the self-made of marginalized as follows: "Social groups

to liberal ideology, both because

and stand because to get however from liberalism, small

it keeps alive the

that most life situa

man

the gains in concrete

tions, partial profits are significant. Pierre Bourdieu

(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,

different need social their

(2000, 32), power" to their relative according On they the way to converting

Lazreg and social

liberal adopt habitually to "think white"/"think learning of whiteness

into capital The mental is often quite being

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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686

GENDER

& SOCIETY

/ 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

Third World gender

debates. color" women ignore 1991 biases This within to one their ). Such

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

diversity, one-sided women

complex

on difference, which

history (e.g., Lazreg the argument goes, feminists the have

against social ventional colorized

generally, science. Furthermore, "white" feminists

academic through constitute

discursive as

women,

themselves

of objectification liberated subjects. it to apply more gener while valu

While
women "white" ally, able Instead

I adopt this critical position,

as complex and historically women and to colorized whiteness. is white

I nevertheless want to redirect the emphasis on

situated agents back to the center and who

is to complicate for of its

expressivity, the category

attempt, "go white." My to argue I want that the color metaphor, too general and therefore analytically it would be more useful

women

insufficient. the spe

women,

to consider

cific positioning
fringes At and of dominant different human

with
historical

respect to the liberal bargain of women

moments during

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

(Johnson-Odim sistent sively ethnic inclination on gender

struggles women who

settings.

the version

has become most widely

with positioned of women on gender

acknowledged,
well order. off, well Leaving

documented,
educated, out the

and popularized
and white, interests and that

is linked
well

are relatively vis-?-vis the liberal from marginalized

is, fairly

discrimination

or means that groups oppressed an has made feminism exclusionary and Feminism

life experiences the exclusive focus and ideol

practice

ogy. A second source of discomfort with feminism

rightly feminisms or not, with colonialism cultural imperialism.

is its historical

identification,
became widely twen

construed

as a form of ideological
sprang up throughout

imperialism,

despite
as

the fact that indigenous

long ago as the early

the colonized

world

tieth century. Historian Leila Ahmed

the Muslim sions and world. of modernism regarded the

(1992) documented
Iran, for culture

this process

in the case of

or In Egypt, Turkey, alike framed Muslim state of women as

ver local and colonial example, as the to obstacle progress major the prototypical litmus the for testing paper

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Sa'ar

/ THE

LIBERAL

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687

level ment,

of

cultural

development. and women, colonialism, uncritically

The which quickly adopted pan-Arabism,

discursive originated gained also by and

culture, and it was

modernity such,

link between political in the particular historical of an ahistorical the status the major political outside counternarratives, Islam.

disempower juncture truism. of As

notably

postcolonial

nationalism,

Third World
feminist theory

feminists have poignantly

to accommodate women

dwelled on the inability of mainstream

living the core of liberal society.

Chela Sandoval
sciousness, feminisms. these

(1991), for example, outlines a four-phase feminist history of con

"liberal," "Marxist," "radical/cultural," serious exclusion racial and differences of U.S. and Third class "socialist" between World that despite the are unified and hegemonic "socialist" feminism seemingly in their does

of consisting She contends

phases, they feminism. Although among women,

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,

documents, they formed also developed organizations.

gender-mixed Native

organizations, and Asian American,

invisibility affected feminists from nondominant

where ization. Jews multiple The of Arab gender example descent, and ethnic of Mizrahi who allegiances feminists

groups outside
in their is a case

the United

States,

resulted in Israel Black

intensified

are considered

in Israeli

in point. culture. They

marginal are Mizrahis have been

historically
their culture

subordinated within Israeli Jewish society, and theArab components

have often Israeli been as their modernization. Concomi regarded impeding feminism the intra-Jewish ethnic overlooked persistently

of

tan tly, mainstream

agenda and tended tomarginalize

Notwithstanding men are not necessarily admit admits chal mobility tion, ments sion. margins histories individuals women nature. their absent

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.

from marginalized the dominant from with from all its

(white

women)

Indeed,

modern

its clearly allow does

for people

structurally to undo

and occupation, are not sufficient Still, openings, inward. But behind.

related

disadvantaged In and achievements. the working measure, Those are do

backgrounds, of themselves, and of

educa through such achieve structural people to leave as local, exclu from the their thus

of discrimination exist who for succeed or a trickle

in small there

is a price. histories

These

ignored,

are expected at best framed

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688

GENDER & SOCIETY /October 2005

colorizing

the boundaries

of

the white-transparent the unilinear and

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

disrupt the ideal of a neutral civil zone, free of so

elements. would the "analytical also cleanliness" primordial They sully to positivistic imperative methodology. a good To strike with of disempowered back members liberalism, bargain

grounds have to adopt itsmodes

tating success for women

of thinking and knowing. This is crucial in facili

men who, through access to the right cul

and minority

tural capital, epistemology

danger people ism, or as of

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

expressions discourse whiteness

bad

them. cantly, ness,

to

acculturation

In that hegemonic Beside outlooks

it operates it is a form liberal

bargain) the dominant

as "going white." Signifi is largely about conscious subjective and the subordinate alike. also entails maleness. a masculine Adopting outlook. a

of consciousness, epistemology often

whiteness involves

attitudes include

and understandings cultural elements

embracing related that are explicitly as taste, logic,

such

to gender, masculine or morale, which appear

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

1994). Rather, the seeming con

interrelations of gendered

the close

and ethnic domination within

Maleness ness, not sex and or whiteness, skin color. Yet

liberal regimes.
then,

and unchanging Liberal orders tialist and and inclusive,

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

normatively epistemologies, those people closest career women of excluded

of many

This backgrounds. the liberal order, such it affects

tends

automatically may

further positioned people of the ethnic individuals white the basis in certain of their

minorities

become on

important

individual

they continue women of

to face oppression the dominant group

cease

to be white

Likewise, ethnicity. women in the popular

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689

descriptive
are cially ment The doxical. feminisms), of the liberal still

sense when they become critically aware of their privileges. While

benefits by have from action, their reduces whiteness, their effect awareness, political sense of belonging and on them. here have branches the been described conservative and that has exposed gained

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,

the process I have even in its most consciousness the version

para (liberal

oppositional the other hand,

limitations popu

order.

the widest

larity is that which

leaving unchallenged

focuses narrowly on amending

the normative construct of

gender discrimination,
and which

while
to

the woman,

refuses

link gender
crimination nificant their own

issues with
is vital,

larger forms of oppression.

it is getting important, these regimes it easier results Very or worse,

Fighting
and

against gender dis

the lives of sig liberal regimes using of course, lies

and moreover, of women.

affecting it. Here,

numbers logic;

it challenges embrace

for better

the irony. Hegemonic

dominant partly affinity culture. because Such

feminist discourse
invocations an make

invokes familiarity with and affinity to the

to identify with and sometimes and also disseminate, a practical,

they produce to power. too often, All

epistemological, they produce

whiteness

in the process.

Imentioned
feminist argues, history would

Chela Sandoval's
are, take a despite paradigm

(1991) contention
and hegemonic. she points

that all four major phases of

To overcome of this trap, she to the mode consciousness

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

seemingly them out

versions.

strategies, In glaring

the dominant Western Configurations

that Sandoval experiences sion, which to constantly confronted. To illustrate of

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

advocates people any

denies

as the final the kinds

recenter,

depending thus Israel

allowing that need

my

arguments of as sets

far, I turn now to cash and the in on limits

to discuss the benefits that their

by Palestinian offers order national tification bers with their of

citizens them

attempts practical the liberal-Zionist exclusion national as a iden mem

individuals, to such

minority and resentment the Palestinian

attempts.

against

the dominant ethnicity

community manners cultural and may

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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690

GENDER

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/ October

2005

the power

of

these

important conflict produce, lie outside these tance;

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

Its Limitations Backgrounds with whose situation I am acquainted through my

for Women Israeli

from Marginal Palestinian

women,

anthropological
ethno-national, them to vote same Israeli echelons. ployment, extenuate severe certain and time

research and political activism,3 suffer from triple marginalization:

class-based, and gendered. opportunities, to the courts, and discriminated are and grants citizenship the right education, welfare, notably through access to plentiful consumerism, they are at the and treated with endemic against suspicion.4 Although in poverty from and in the lowest socioeconomic unem To to and their Israeli

rights appeal

structurally

Palestinians Their housing

overrepresented areas residential suffer shortages, and high sexual

underdeveloped levels of crime and women

infrastructure, communal are frequently 1997; violence.

these multiple oppressions, measures of domestic and

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

1999). By and large, the

control and male domestic have chal organizations death threats, of women's

or active However,

suffer

to provide domestic abuse, system

protection and for and through the

for women rights, mostly in the of this

promotion Israeli

the court through In postcolonial ethno-national cultural space, class

terminology, order makes re-create

legislation. of location racialized the

Palestinian As of the

women inhabitants liberal-civic case Israeli

them

or colored.

that excludes culture tinian writes, also

they them. However,

and delimit the

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

component is not. Rhoda in Galilee

is outright in an (2002), documents

the modern-liberal

(northern

Israel),

of Palestinian women's ethnography of and and desires modernity practices

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

exclusion, hostility, Arab. This puzzling she argues, "reflects

and other avoidance the

absence

because that they suffered directly term "racism" the explicit in a racialized of the term in the for legitimacy

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discourse tions over,

in Israel Jews

and

a strong

tendency women

to construct in national adopt and

the discourse rather thus than civil

about terms. the

the rela More

between it indicates

and Palestinian-Arabs the dominated

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

myriad, women space. from

often touch Although

and fleeting, Israeli culture formidable

sometimes constitute ethno-national large-scale

civil privileged such excursions that odd they years yield from

segregation acceptance,

turning in concrete life

into permanent, cannot situations who

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

a village in Galilee, on the nearby city

in my participated of Karmiel: "Regardless

(Sa'ar 2000, 334).

Along it. . . . My similar lines, an interviewee in Herzog's study said, "Today, like it or not,

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

activist, took deliberate

and as "I am she not such

steps to ensure that her Israelization did not

carefully this "I make to the sure interviewer, . . . not to lose

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.

of expression of increasingly regional,

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

il-Sakhneen operation Israel. These accused expressed Israel tary

of Sakhneen, Palestine tended

the state

in occupied demonstrations of committing of outrage

a sense

genocide and despair.

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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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

(a pseudonym), sense mendous estinians moment,

Israeli streets

that night of Israeli

in the celebrating Abna' il-Sakhneen,

Sakhneen,

weeping soccer,

pictures joy. For impossible.

the underdog

plausible
conveyed

that the frantic festivities

more than a fraction of

at the height of the humiliating Rafah operation

symbolic revenge. But it also conveyed the possi

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

possible were not merely

were moment took

trying to appease Jewish Israeli public opinion. They

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

were statements political consistently In seemingly moves, contradictory

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,

the Palestinians where

orientation.

condition,

partial gains provide powerful ideology.

To I turn

incentives to relax into the promising

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

of bachelors strongly convictions of marrying throughout career

oriented advanced further. academic

and

adamant education

popular chances employed,

that even her

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

is an apt example a strong and

liberal

Despite
(Erdreich

her potential
and Rapoport

exposure
2002),

to critical
Yara's

theories at the School

in knowledge

of Education
as a

engagement

production,

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student tionalist education,

and

research

assistant,

revolved her

consistently

around

conservative,

func degree curricula in

analyses. with

Furthermore, its potentially and

parallel experience critical and outlook,

a graduate doing new developing focused and

for Arab
dissonance.

students at the Israeli Ministry

In her work goal professional of modernizing Arab

of Education
thinking, public schools

did not seem to create any

entirely on the consistently shunned

Yara

universal-liberal

the notion that knowledge

cations. Jewish In this, personnel

is situated and therefore yields explicitly

among and school

political
Arab This

impli
and narra

a mainstream she joined narrative in the educational administration

the professional system.

tive habitually
ination tism against of Arab

identifies as themajor maladies

Arab teachers. schools Since and the poor these problems

of the system the budgetary discrim

resources are generally Yara's who are and general deemed conserva correctable

human

within
sion of

the concept of liberal rights, the narrative in effect depoliticizes

the colossal highly failure educated of Arab Israeli public education. utilitarian those most Palestinians,

the discus
attitude is not to bene

rare among

likely

fit from the liberal order. Notwithstanding

sive character of state education source of personal empowerment. an

the clearly discriminatory

Yara's involvement from woman

and oppres
in it served as a fam

1995), (Al-Haj As a nonmarried

a lower-class

ily background,
profession and a ticket liberal The estinian ambivalent has to the

and the first generation

been for her elite. local This, opportunity in turn,

in her family with higher education,

for upward has entailed mobility, significant

her

personal growth, internalization of

epistemology. discursive narratives and

tone,

of course,

shifts While Israel

with

the context. attitudes toward outright

Significantly, modernity negative,

Israeli are liberal

Pal

are multivocal. sentiments toward

deeply episte

are often

mology

retains its hegemony

national

in local articulations
rhetoric. range The from levels

of needs and desires despite

of acceptance and of Israeli actively them for promoting short-term and

the

increasingly popular ism and other available their gains, as authority, for example,

liberal

liberalisms case

internalizing

in the

of Yara, participation

through

with through working in formal politics,

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

in liberalism, for example,

through celebrating
a critical identities, are dynamic and

images of modernity,
which

the less likely

and are

or to act they are to develop Cultural social attributes, affected by liberal bargains,

consciousness. consciousness, motivate

the ongoing plex the

of gender, reshuffling between interrelations these that inhere

They phenomena. and citizenship. ethnicity, I end this briefcase systems, as collective

are produced To illustrate

through the com on the

limitations

private winning marize

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

a note study with exclusion hinders

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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

pride. Angry consumed in their several times over along

belonging.

I heard

publicly against the exclusively

gender oppression male character of

community, in the victory

with

the others. Against

as they were

this militant mood,

broadcast on Israeli

the local celebrations

television, provided

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

football club and followed

the nonbelligerent tone of

the commentaries
the supporters

in the local Arab press, confirmed

in the media was not

that

represented

coinci

dental but part of the club's policy to avoid politicization

with tone Israeli Nuhad endorsed Jewish 'Ali, summer 2004). These efforts by the Palestinian political a few months side. When,

(personal communication
the ethno-national matched victory, also on the

notwithstanding, was soon activists the state cup

after

a Sakhneen

player scored a critical goal for Israel in theWorld

around the country team. the national were filled with loud, racist

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.

the players and consequently from marginalized For people

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

the type of liberal sensibilities

and on

among the majority

group at each particular scene

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

Identity article, and

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

I have eral regimes. or "color," it would

from of people that instead suggested to look be more useful

backgrounds on actors' ethnic of bargain that

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695

strike with liberalism. The concept of the liberal bargain, embedded

and power regimes, patriarchal relations arrangements, without allows us their do not to note disregarding of exclusion the dynamic, character. structural rule out

as it is in ethnic
aspect of in liberal for partici

agentive Because

mechanisms

entirely

possibilities

pation and mobility

the dominant

for members

of marginalized

groups,

including women within

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

ogy, which by historical default

Common thought interests, of either according in formal terms,

is white and masculine.

to Anna that G. Jonasdottir (1988, 41), usually is, a result of objective "needs group-based conditions

"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)."

I find this a good entry point to try to synthesize

this article. the "color Mulling of the mind," over possible that is, between mismatches social between identities

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

"being and "needs

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.

people, amenable women they

conveniently

processes.

career

or not

experience disharmony it explicitly. Although

educated, highly in their working such women

upper-middle environments, and men may be

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696

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/ October

2005

relatively unable

safe

from

or unwilling

injury by to dismiss

routine them. of

sexist, Critical

racist,

or classist

offenses, in other

they may words,

be may

consciousness, and

develop through of exclusion may

an experience lead to and

affluence

nurture

conservative

as much privilege, consciousness.

as experiences

To resist the tempting embrace of liberal hegemony,

groups need to colorize the structural privileges that have

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

women" 1983, (Lorde acceptable as relevant to them racism and classism

personally. of different need not

the privilege

not to have to fight for material,

create major distinctions these backgrounds. However,

physical
between

survival and the comfort of liberal divi

feminists distinctions political-economic be reified. Instead, between a central which meth

historical

to difference, attuning our creativity can spark

it "as a fund of necessary seeing polarities like a dialectic" 1983, 99), becomes (Lorde

odology

for feminist action and consciousness.

historical privileges without, as

The term liberal bargain

it were, taking them

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

to adopt masculine feminist politics histories.

and

embracing

people

torically privileged groups who share its critical outlook, without denouncing
particular

their

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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

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