In the Name of the Family by Shelley Saywell

In the Name of the Family depicts the stories of several Muslim women who were the victims of honour killings in Canada and the United States. Director Shelley Saywell gives a strong voice to them as well as to their relatives, seeking a feminine point of view on Muslim culture.

Aqsa was killed by her father because she refused to wear the hijab (traditional Muslim headscarf). Her murder signifies one important fact: a hijab is much more than just a piece of clothing; it is a cultural and gendered symbol. It is a representation of male dominance over women. But what happens if a daughter refuses to wear it in order to adapt to the ’foreign’ culture? What happens if a sister wants to go to college? What happens when the ones in power lose control? The film attempts to discuss the gendered aspects of multiculturalism through the personal stories of the victims. The male voice however is represented scarcely - concretely by one of the Muslim community’s religious representatives in Toronto and by one of the attackers, not allowing for greater discussion of this issue and in a way demonizing Muslim culture.

All in all, this film is about family as the locus of culture and tradition. If a man coming from a traditionally patriarchal culture loses control of his family, violence against women is a common means of exercising power when he is powerless elsewhere. Thus the punishment for not wanting to wear the hijab is a reaction to something much bigger – being powerless in a foreign culture where nothing is held together except one’s own family. Whether a murder is a family or a cultural issue though, it is still unjustifiable.

By Michaela Pnacekova