Pensum/læringskrav

Class One: Introduction

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Suggested:

• Maya Mikdashi. "How Not to Study Gender in the Middle East". Jadaliyya online, March 21, 2012. Accessed June 2, 2013,

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. 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.

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.
• 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: Deconstructing Gender and the “Woman Question”

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

Class Four: Interventions: Feminism and Difference

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. 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.
3. Nawar Al-Hassan. “Is Feminism Relevant to Arab Women?.” Third World Quarterly 25, no. 3 (2004): pp. 521-536.
4. 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.
• PBS Frontline interview with Amina Wadud. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/interviews/wadud.html
• Marnia Lazreg. The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. London: Routledge, 1994. Chapter 1 “Decolonizing Feminism,” pp. 6-19.

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. Saba Mahmood. “Feminism, Democracy, and Empire: Islam and the War of Terror. In Women Studies on the Edge, edited by Joan W. Scott, pp. 81-114. Duke University Press, 2008.
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. 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.
2. 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.
3. [VIDEO] Interview with Mona Eltahawy, “On Feminism and Islam,” WGBH Interview, 
4. Christine M. Jacobsen. “Troublesome Threesome: Feminism, Anthropology and Muslim women's piety.” Feminist Review  98, Islam in Europe (2011): pp. 65-82.

Suggested:

• Saba Mahmood. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012.
• Sadia Abbas. “The Echo-Chamber of Freedom: The Muslim Woman and the Pretext of Agency.” boundary 2 40, no. 1 (2013): pp. 155-189.

Class Seven: 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 Tønnessen. “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 Eight: Fashioning (Maternal) Citizenship

1. Qasim Amin. The Liberation of Woman & The New Woman. Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press, 2000. Selections TBA.
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: “Covering” Islam

1. Fatemeh Sadeghi. “Why We Say No to Compulsory Hejab”
2. Fadwa El Guindi. Veil:  Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2003. Introduction. pp. 1-12.
3. Homa Hoodfar.  “The Veil in their Minds and on Our Heads.” RFR/DRF 22, no. ¾, pp.
4. Banu Gökarıksel and Anna Secor. “Islamic-ness in the Life of a Commodity: Veiling-Fashion in Turkey” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 35 (2010), pp. 313-333.
5. Suzanne Brenner. "Reconstructing self and society: Javanese Muslim women and ‘the veil.’ American Ethnologist. No. 23 (April 1996):  pp. 673-697.

Suggested:

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

Class Ten: “Islamic Feminism” and its Objectors

1. 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.
2. Margot Badran. “Islamic Feminism: What’s in a Name?” Al-Ahram, January 17-23, 2002.
3. Ziba Mir-Hosseini. “Beyond ‘Islam’ vs. ‘Feminism.’” IDS Bulletin 42, no. 2 (January 2011).
4. Valentine Moghadam. “Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents: Toward a Resolution of the Debate.” Signs 27, no. 4 (2002): pp. 1135-1171.