Islam, Women, and Social change INAF 498 Tuesday ICC270

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1 Islam, Women, and Social change INAF 498 Tuesday ICC270 Yvonne Haddad Spring 2012 Office ICC167 Office Hours M 4:15-6:00, other times by appointment Office Tel haddady@georgetown.edu Course Description: This seminar is designed to study gender in Islamic societies. Assigned readings will include primary and secondary sources. Of particular interest will be comparisons between theory and practice regarding such issues as the treatment of women, gender relations, concepts of women's liberation, equality and human rights. Throughout the course, women will be dealt with as members of the wider community, sharing in its responsibilities and duties, rather than a separate secluded group. The seminar is divided into three parts. The first part will utilize the historical method to study the formative period of Islam and explore the manner in which culture, religion and the state have transformed and helped shape the social, political and economic organizations of society that have impacted Muslim women in the past and continue to reshape them in the present. The second part will focus on efforts to reconstruct gender under colonial rule as well as the modern nation state. We will study the efforts for the liberation of women in Egypt and the impact of universal ideologies of feminism or Arab women. The third part will explore how gender is constructed and transformed in Islamic societies and the role in which religion is increasingly being utilized by various actors (both male and female) in order to reshape gender roles and gender expectations. It will focus on women s agency in several Muslim nation states (Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Palestine and Turkey) to illustrate the manner in which change is being sought and is taking place. The format followed for the course will be that of seminar. Discussions are an essential part of the course and students are expected to read the material assigned for the day, identify the author s argument and evidence and develop their own interpretations. They are expected to identify the author s premises, thesis, evidence and conclusion placing them in the context of other material they have read and provide a critique. Students are expected to attend all sessions. (Attendance will be taken.) Absences will reflect on the grade. Absences are excused only by permission of the Dean or a Doctor s note in case of illness. The grade will be based on the following:

2 1. Class discussion 30%, 2. Class presentation 30% 3. Research paper (15 pp undergraduate, 25 pp graduate) 40%. A. The focus of the research paper must be relevant to the course and determined in consultation with the instructor. You must prepare the thesis, short outline, and a working bibliography (due February 7) B. The grade for the paper will be based on the following: 1. Well written and organized; 2. Provides a substantial thesis; 3. Has strong argumentation; 4. Demonstrates proper use of evidence, 5. Provides accurate facts; 6. Demonstrates original work Grading Scale A= A-=90-93 B+=87-89 B=84-86 B-=80-83 C+=77-79 C=74-76 C-=70-73 D+=67-69 D=64-66 F=0-63 Grading scale for evaluation of the research paper is posted on Blackboard under Assignment Required Textbooks available at the bookstore and on reserve: Arat, Yesim, Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy; Islamist Women in Turkish Politics, State University of New York Press, 2005, ISBN-13: Badran,Margot and Miriam Cooke, Opening the Gates: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writings, Indiana University Press, ISBN-13: Goodwin, Jan, Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World, Penguin, 2002, ISBN-13: Karmi, Ghada, In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story, Verso, Macleod, Arlene. Accommodating Protest: Working Women, the New Veiling, and Change in Cairo. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, ISBN-13: Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil. Indiana UniversityPress, ISBN-13: Mir-Hossaini, Ziba. Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton University Press, ISBN-13: Van-Doorn-Harder, Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur an in Indonesia, University of Illinois Press, 2006ISBN-13:

3 Seminar Schedule PART I The Foundations of the Faith and Institutionalization of Islam January 17 Introduction to the Seminar and Explanation of the Syllabus Reading: Optional, recommended for those with no background (Introduction to Islam, to be assigned) January 24 The Qur an as a Source for Studying Gender History For Muslims, the Qur an is the foundation of faith and spiritual life, as well as social and public life. This session will be devoted to analyzing the Qur anic verses that deal with women and gender. Reading: Selected verses from the Qur an, several translations the Qur an are available through the internet. You can explore the different nuances and interpretations of the text. Available through Blackboard under Qur an The list of verses is posted on Blackboard under Assignment January 31 Hadith and Fiqh as a Source for Studying Gender Relations. Discussion will focus on the of Hadith(teaching and example of the Prophet) and Fiqh (jurisprudence) comparing their teachings with the Qur anic text to illustrate the evolution of the Shar`ia (legal interpretation). Reading: Shaykh Muhammad Kabbani and Laleh Bakhtiar. Encyclopedia of Muhammad s Women Companions and the Traditions they related. Kazi Publications, (Selections Bb & ER) Stowasser, The Mothers of the Believers in Hadith, Muslim World, 82:1-2 (1992), 1-36 Bb Fatawi: (legal opinions): A. Spectorsky (Translator). Chapters on Marriage and Divorce: Respnses of Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Rahwayh. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, Bb February 7 Shari c a Court Records and Modern Courts Court records as a source for studying gender relations. A sample of court cases (with translations) involving such matters as marriage, divorce, inheritance, awqaf, and crimes will be distributed to the class. Reading: Carl F. Petry, Conjugal Rights verses Class Prerogatives: A Divorce Case in Mamluk Cairo, in Women in the Medieval Islamic World,

4 Leslie Pierce, She is Trouble and I will Divorce Her : Orality, Honor, and Representation in the Ottoman Court of `Aintab, in Women in the Medieval Islamic World, Fadel, Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought, in International Journal of Middle eastern Studies, vol. 29, # 2, Articles by Hanna,, Afifi, Meriwether, Largueche and Zilfi in Amira Sonbol, Ed. Also read Introduction Women, the Family and Divorce Law in Islamic History. February 14 Muslim Women through the Western Gaze We will discuss the role of western missionaries, colonial rulers, and feminists in promoting change in Muslim societies, the response they have generated, as well as the impact of international conventions and norms of women s rights and human rights Reading: Steet, Veils and Daggers. (selection) AbuLughod, Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? AnthropologicalReflections on Cultural Relativism and its Others, in American Anthropologist, 104:3 (Septemebr 2002): pp Said, Edward, Orientalism, pp C.T. Moharty, Under Western Eyes, Ong, Colonialism and Modernity PART II The Impact of Modernization and the Nation State February 21 Women s Liberation Reading: Qasim Amin, The Liberation of Women and the New Woman, pp Bb The Mutilated Half, by El Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World, pp er Goodwin, ch 2 An-Naim, The Dichotomy between Religious and Secular Discourse in Islamic Societies, In Mahnaz Afkhami, Faith and Freedom: Women s Human Rights in Islamic Societies, pp Haddad, Islam and Gender: Dilemmas in the Changing Arab World, in Haddad & Esposito, Islam., Gender, and Social Change February 28 Arab Feminism? We will discuss the writings of Arab feminists.

5 Reading: Badran and Cooke, Opening the Gates: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writings, (Etel Adnan, Fadwa Touqan,Alifa Rifaat, Bahithat al-badiya, Ghada Samman, Nabawiya Musa. Saiza Nabarawi, Huda Shaarawi, Inji Aflatun, Duriya Shafiq, Nawal Saadawi) Goodwin, chs, 6,7, 9-11 March 13 Arab Feminists (2) The discussion will continue to focus on the writings of Arab Feminists Reading: Fatima Mernissi, Beyond the Veil Badran and Cooke (Evelyne Accad, Badran, Arab Feminism from Feminists, Islam and Nation, pp , March 20 Palestine The focus on Palestine will offer the opportunity to discuss the role of women in war and as refugees and their politicization. Reading: Goodwin, ch 12 Karmi, Ghada, In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story Part III Islamic Feminism? March 27 Women in Egypt Reading: Macleod, Arlene. Accommodating Protest: Working Women, the New Veiling, and Change in Cairo. Goodwin, ch 13 AbuLoghud, The Marriage of Feminism and Islamism in Egypt, in AbuLoghud, ed., Remaking Women, pp April 3 Women in Iran With the fall of the Shah and the Islamization of society under the Khomeini regime, Iranian feminists have been in debates on the role of women in Islamic society. Reading: Ziba Mir Hossaini, Islam and Gender. Goodwin, ch 5 Violence Against Women and the Politics of Rape, Gonul Donnez- Colin, Women, Islam and Cinema, ch 2 Bb Extra Optional Reading: Moghissi, Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism April 10 Women in Turkey For over half a century, the Turkish state modernized women by legislation. The Turkish model was held as an example for other Muslim

6 nations to follow. Increasingly, the AK ruling party and its female cadres are Islamizing society. Reading: Arat, Yesim, Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy; Islamist Women in Turkish Politics, Deniz Kandioti, Emancipated but Unliberated? Reflections on the Turkish Case, Feminist Studies 13 (Summer 1987): Bb Ayse Kadioglu, Women s Subordination in Turkey: Is Islam Really the Villain? Middle East Journal 48:4 (Autumn 1994): Bb April 17 Women in Indonesia Modernization led to the adoption of western models in Indonesia. With the fall of the autocratic regime, a counter movement has sought to bring about the re-islamization of society. We will discuss the competing models of feminism that are propagated. Reading: Van-Doorn-Harder, Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur an in Indonesia, April 24 Muslim Women in Western Diasporas Reading; Goodwin, ch 8 Competing Discourses, Haddad, et al, Muslim Women in America, Bb Haifa Jawad, The Rights of Women in Islam: An Authentic Approach, pp 61-82