MES4520 - Spring 2019

Pensum/l?ringskrav

Class One: Introduction

  1. Nikki Keddie. “Introduction: Deciphering Middle Eastern Women's History.” In Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender , eds. Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron, pp.1-22. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
  2. Leila Ahmed. “Feminism and feminist movements in the Middle East, a preliminary exploration: Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.” Women's Studies International Forum 5, no. 2 (1982): pp. 153-168.
  3. Asef Bayat. Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. Introduction, “The Art of Presence”, pp. 1-26.
  4. Maya Mikdashi. "How Not to Study Gender in the Middle East". Jadaliyya online, March 21, 2012. Accessed June 2, 2013,

Suggested:

  • Valentine Moghadam and Fatima Sadiqi. "Women's Activism and the Public Sphere: An Introduction and Overview." J ournal of Middle East Women's Studies 2.2 (2006): pp. 1-7.

Class Two: Textual Approaches

  1. Amina Wadud. Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Chapter 1, “In the Beginning, Man and Woman Were Equal,” pp. 15-28; ALSO pp. 62-74.
  2. Fatima Mernissi. The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam. London: Perseus Books Group, 1991.  Introduction.
  3. Asma Barlas. Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an. 1st ed. University of Texas Press, 2002. Preface and ch. 1, pp. 1-28.
  4. Gender and Islam Un-reading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran” video. KuchKhaas: The Centre for Arts, Culture & Dialogue

Suggested:

  • Barbara Freyer Stowasser. “Liberated Equal or Protected Dependent? Contemporary Religious Paradigms on Women’s Status in Islam.” Arab Studies Quarterly 9, no. 3 (Summer 1987): pp. 260-283.
  • PBS Frontline interview with Amina Wadud.
  • Line Nyhagen Predelli. “Interpreting Gender in Islam: A Case Study of Immigrant Muslim Women in Oslo.” Gender and Society 18, no. 4 (Aug., 2004): pp. 473-493.
  • Carla Power. “What the Koran Really Says about Women.” The Telegraph online. November 6, 2015. http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/koran-carla-power/index.html.

Class Three: Interventions: Feminism and Difference

  1. Marnia Lazreg. "The Triumphant Discourse of Global Feminism." In Going Global:The Transnational Reception of Third World Women Writers, edited by Amal Amireh and Lisa Suhair Majaj. New York: Routledge, 2012.

  2. Lila Abu-Lughod. “Feminist Longings and Postcolonial Conditions.” In Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East, edited by Lila Abu-Lughod, pp. 3-31. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

  3. Chandra Talpade Mohanty. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse."In Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism", edited by Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, Ann Russo & Lourdes Torres, pp. 51-80. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

Suggested:

  • Lila Abu-Lughod. “Writing against Culture.” In Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present, edited by Richard Fox, pp. 137-62. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, 1991.
  • Marnia Lazreg. The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. London: Routledge, 1994. Chapter 1 “Decolonizing Feminism,” pp. 6-19.

Class Four: Deconstructing Gender and the “Woman Question”

  1. Gayatri Spivak. “Can the Subaltern Speak?" pp. 66-111.
  2. [VIDEO] Director Sut Jhally, “Edward Said on Orientalism,” 1998,

Class Five: Imperial Interventions post 9/11

  1. Ellen McLarney. "The Burqa in Vogue: Fashioning Afghanistan." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 5, no. 1 (2009): 1-23. doi:10.2979/mew.2009.5.1.1.
  2. Roksana Bahramitsh. “The War on Terror, Feminist Orientalism, and Orientalist Feminism: Case Studies of Two North American Bestsellers,”Critique 14 (2005): pp. 221–35.

  3. Sadia Abbas. “The Echo-Chamber of Freedom: The Muslim Woman and the Pretext of Agency.” boundary 2 40, no. 1 (2013): pp. 155-189.

  4. Lila Abu-Lughod. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others.” American Anthropologist New Series 104, no. 3 (Sep., 2002): pp. 783-790.

Suggested:

Lugones, M. C. & Spelman, E. Y. “Have we got a theory for you! Feminist theory, cultural imperialism and the demand for the woman's voice.” Women's Studies International Forum vol. 6, no. 6 (1983): pp. 573-581.

Class Six: Interrogating Agency

  1. Amal Amireh. “Writing the Difference:  Feminists’ Invention of the ‘Arab Woman.’” In Interventions. Feminist Dialogues on Third World Women’s Literature and Film, edited by Bishnupriya Ghosh and Brinda Bose, pp. 185-212. New York: Routledge, 1996.

  2. Saba Mahmood.  “Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent:  Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival.” Cultural Anthropology 16, no. 2, May 2001. pp. 202-229.
  3. Huda Sha’rawi. Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist (1879-1924). Translated, edited and introduced by Margot Badran. New York: The Feminist Press  at CUNY, 1986. Selections TBA.
  4. [VIDEO] Interview with Mona Eltahawy, “On Feminism and Islam,” WGBH Interview, 

Suggested:

  • Saba Mahmood. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012.

Class Seven: Contextualizing the Politics of Reproduction

  1. Kanaaneh, Rhoda Ann. Birthing the Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

     [VIDEO] “Conversations with History:  Palestinian Voice Hanan Ashrawi,” University of California Television, July 2001,

Class Eight: Fashioning (Maternal) Citizenship

  1. Qasim Amin. The Liberation of Woman & The New Woman. Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press, 2000. Selections include Preface, Translator's Intro, and Introduction; Chapter 1  (pp. 11-34); Chapter 3  (pp. 62-75); Education and Seclusion (pp. 179-199).
  2. Homa Hoodfar. “Devices and Desires: Population Policy and Gender Roles in the Islamic Republic.” Middle East Report  no. 190 (September-October 1994): pp. 11-17.
  3. Julie Peteet. “Icons and Militants: Mothering in the Danger Zone.” Signs 23, no. (1997): pp. 103-129.
  4. Homa Hoodar. “Bargaining with Fundamentalism: Women and the Politics of Population Control in Iran.” Reproductive Health Matters 4, No. 8, Fundamentalism, Women's Empowerment and Reproductive Rights (November 1996): pp. 30-40.

Class Nine: Interrogating Patriarchy and the Islamist State

  1. Deniz Kandiyoti. “Islam & Patriarchy: A Comparative Perspective.”  In Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, eds.  Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron, pp. 23-42.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
  2. Afsaneh Najmabadi. “Hazards of Modernity and Morality: Women, State and Ideology in Contemporary Iran.”  In Women, Islam, and the State, edited by Deniz Kandiyoti, pp. 48-76, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991.
  3. Liv T?nnessen. “Ansar al-Sunna and Women's Agency in Sudan: A Salafi Approach to Empowerment through Gender Segregation.”  Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 37, No. 3 (2016): pp. 92-124.
  4. Zakia Salime. “Embedded Counterpublics: Women and Islamic Revival in Morocco.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 37, No. 3 (2016): pp. 47-73.

Class Ten: “Islamic Feminism” and its Objectors

  1. Reza Afshari. “Egalitarian Islam and Misogynist Islamic Tradition?: A Critique of Feminist Reinterpretation of Islamic History and Heritage.” Critique: Journal of Critical Studies of Iran and the Middle East 4 (1994): pp. 13-33.

  2. Haleh Afshar. “Islam and Feminism: An Analysis of Political Strategies.” In Feminism and Islam, edited by May Yamani, pp. 197-217. New York: New York University Press, 1996.
  3. Margot Badran. “Islamic Feminism: What’s in a Name?” Al-Ahram, January 17-23, 2002.
  4. Ziba Mir-Hosseini. “Beyond ‘Islam’ vs. ‘Feminism.’” IDS Bulletin 42, no. 2 (January 2011).
  5. Valentine Moghadam. “Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents: Toward a Resolution of the Debate.” Signs 27, no. 4 (2002): pp. 1135-1171.

Suggested:

Film: Persepolis. Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. Culver City: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007.

Published Nov. 12, 2018 2:33 PM - Last modified Nov. 12, 2018 2:38 PM
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