Women in Islam Blog

ABOUT THE COURSE:
Women in Islam and the Middle East is a course about women within and without the Islamic community including those in non-Muslim Middle Eastern cultures. It focuses on women from the early time periods of the rise of Islam until modern times. We will consider the textual references to women in the primary religious texts (Qur’ān and the Sunnah) and references and stories of prominent women as told in the Islamic history books. In order to provide a comprehensive exploration of the status of women and gender issues, the course will also rely on interviews, guest lectures, images, documentaries, and films produced from a variety of perspectives and through the lenses of a number of disciplines.
During the second half of the semester, the course will discuss the lives of contemporary Muslim women, the factors informing constructions of gender in the Islam and the Middle East, and the role played by questions of women's status. In this section we will focus on contemporary Muslim women in a number of different cultural contexts in order to highlight a variety of significant issues including, veiling and seclusion, kinship structures, violence, health, feminist activism, literary expression, body and mind, and other themes.
These are some of the topics that will be discussed in the course:
•    The rise of patriarchy in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt and a comparison of its quality and intensity in both areas over time, based on translated historical texts and modern historians' interpretations of them, plus other archeological data.
•    Consolidation of religion-based patriarchal ideologies in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
•    Consideration of Muslim women's constraints, rights, and opportunities in Medieval times—From Early Caliphate successions until the Ottoman Empire.
•    The parameters and implications of theories of the "origins" of patriarchy, of "Orientalism", and ethnocentrism.
•    The traumatic impact of European imperialism and colonialism upon Islamic and Middle Eastern states, especially upon gender relations using historical research and literary works by Middle Eastern writers.
•    Middle Eastern women's issues and concerns in the post-colonial period and women's contemporary struggle for economic, political, and civil viability and equality within the family and the society.
OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE:
The course is developed as an interdisciplinary one in order to satisfy requirements of various departments. Moreover, as the important topic that it is, it is essential that various methodologies and disciplinary approaches are adopted. Historical, sociological, anthropological, literary, legal, philosophical, and political themes will be addressed in order to balance the treatment of such a rich topic.
COURSE READINGS:
In addition to selected chapters contained in the textbooks, there will be additional reading materials to be made available to students online.  Students are expected to make use of the World Wide Web and to read current events relevant to the course's theme as they become available in-print or on the Internet.
A detailed schedule of lecture topics, reading assignments, and in-class activities will be made available on ICON. This schedule will be updated regularly as the course progresses.
Textbooks (Required):
•    Reading Packet: Collection of Chapters and Articles  (ICON)
•    A detailed weekly schedule of Reading Assignments is available online
Supplemental (not required):
 (some suggestions for your research papers):
•   Contesting Justice: Women, Islam, Law, and Society (SUNY Press, 2008)