Post date: Dec 02, 2016 8:19:0 PM
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161116-the-22-syllables-that-can-get-you-killed
This November 2016 article featured on BBC Culture is meant to inform Western (presumably British) audiences about poetry spoken amongst Afghan women. The style of poetry, the landay, is described in terms of format, theme, and then a significant emphasis is placed on the often illicit or taboo practice. While the article addresses similar themes as Abu-Lughod's examination of women's poetry in Bedouin communities, the way it is written frequently falls back into orientalist stereotypes of the Middle East, particularly when it comes to women and violence. The title of the article "The 22 Syllables That Can Get You Killed" alongside the header image of a veiled woman says nothing about poetry, but uses a stereotypical image of what a Muslim woman looks like alongside a provocative title (that we later learn is in reference to a particularly dramatic incident) that equates the Middle East with violence and some extent of oppression of women.
Despite the sensationalist and orientalist title, the content itself is less stereotypical, especially as it describes the purpose the landays serve in the lives of young Afghan women. The poems, although a poetic form pre-dating Islam, take on modern themes in the age of Western militaristic occupation in Afghanistan as well as through the references to and the use of electronic technologies to circulate the poetry. Similar to Abu-Lughod's ethnography on poetry in the lives of women, the author of the article focuses on the use of poetry as an additional discursive medium that coexists along more conventional discourses within everyday life, but in doing so, "The 22 Syllables That Can Get You Killed" shows a starker and less nuanced relationship between the conventional and more "subversive" discourses.