Stories We Know : Empire, Land and Gender in the Book of Ruth

Abstract

This chapter examines the interplay of issues of empire, religion, land, environment and gender in the narrative of Ruth. These issues tend to intertwine in the abusive context of colonialism. In this chapter, religion is represented by the interpretation of the Torah, which gave the colonialist the notion of moral superiority over the indigenous people. The sense of moral superiority normally escalated to that of racial superiority and resulted in the entitlement to dominate, abuse and massacre the indigenous. In certain areas, the narrative of Ruth is a critique of the imperial attitudes of the Israelites towards the Moabites. I argue that in other areas, the narrative thrusts forward the label "Moab" or "Moabitess" in order to present the people and the land of Moab in good light. The sections of the chapter are as follows: An apology for Moab; Torah pronunciations on Moab; Moabite women -the alleged producers of an illegitimate nation; Imperial thoughts against the local woman; The imperialist's land; Stories we know about Mother Africa; False narratives against Mother Earth, and; Mother Moab, Mother Africa and Mother Earth.