Debatten om Fadime : Orientalism och kulturrasism?

by Baniasadi, Ali

When Fadime Sahindal was murdered by her father in Uppsala it started a debate about “honor killing” that in an avalanche-like manner spread across the country. The debate quickly got devided into two seperate alignments, one that placed emphasis on the cultural aspect and another that placed emphasis on a non-cultural aspect. While the one emphasizing the cultural aspect believed that cultural difference should be the main focus because otherwise the female immigrants’ specific problems would not be made visible, the other one emphasizing a non-cultural aspect believed that a universal patriarchal opression should be the main focus because otherwise the xenophobia would be made stronger. Because of these polarized opinions the debate reached a deadlock. The purpose of this essay is to, through a study of the debate’s first five months, search for representations which have palpable links to Orientlism, and in which one of the two alignments these represantations are found. Further more the purpose of this essay is to find what kind of relation these two alignments have had to one another and what in this relation that has caused the deadlock. Orientalism and the representations it includes, along with the methods of a discourse analysis, serve as a starting point for this essay. Representations with palpable links to Orientalism were found in both alignments and it can therefore not be said that they are reserved for eather on or the other alignment. Although, the majority of those kind of representations were found withing the “cultur-emphasizing” alignment. The relation between the two alignments was characterized by a polemic where one alignment accused the other for disadvantaging female immigrants and vice versa. Within this relation a paradox has appeard, were the alignments have got themselves tangled in. And it is this that has caused the deadlock.