College and University Monitor

Ms. Milton responded with a defense of Dr. Abu-Lughod’s article. “Regarding the academic rigor of the article, ‘Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?,’ there are very few credentials better than Lila Abu-Lughod’s,” she wrote. “She is a professor at Columbia University and has also taught at Princeton University and NYU. American Anthropologist is a respected academic journal in the field of anthropology. To appear in a journal of this caliber, the article would have to be recommended for publication by at least four experts on its topic from respected universities. The article eventually became a book published by Harvard University Press, bringing its central arguments to the attention and vetting of even more scholars. She is also the author or editor of eight books published by reputable and highly respected university presses.

“That the article discusses the uses of representation of Muslim women to justify U.S. intervention in the Middle East makes it an ideal fit for Issues in Women’s Leadership: Knowledge and Power, as the Women’s and Gender Studies department’s twelve key concepts include feminism, social justice and human rights, violence, conflict, and terrorism,” Ms. Milton wrote.