Week 3- Response to Josh’s Blog on Chaterjee

In his blog on the effectiveness of Chaterjee’s piece on the continued subjugation of women within a post-colonial liberation movement Josh brings up a very valid and well put point, in stating that even within a movement of liberation there is a new institution of patriarchy. In my reading of Josh’s blog as well as the Chaterjee article my thoughts can’t help but be drawn to the fact that within a religion of freedom (Christianity) we still use our morals, theories, and scriptures to subjugate and oppress not only women, but so many other groups. A similar parallel continues as we think about the self-definition of Christians, and how it is based not upon what we are but rather what we are not (homosexual, abortionists, etc.).
As Josh points out this logic was also used by the Nationalists to subjugate women, through the use of both “western-women” and “lower class women” to keep the new “middle class women” of India trapped within the home and the correct identity of a traditional, nationalist women. These points by Josh raise other questions on how we are identifying ourselves as Christians, and how we are encouraging others to identify us.