"Dangerously Radical?" - Explaining the position of the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan in Post Taliban Afghanistan

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan is an organisation that provides a fascinating insight into understandings of gender, national identity and universal human rights. In its construction of a universal human rights message for women in Afghanistan the group responds to the philosophical debate surrounding universal rights and cultural relativism, and the support and criticism coming from the international feminist movement. In order to understand the way that RAWA has framed itself and its message, it is imperative to examine the ways RAWA has responded both to the international principles of universalism and feminism, but also to the national history and culture they operate in. RAWA’s firm local grounding and sense of unique history mean that they control, rather than are controlled by, international principles.