Women and Islam

Less than 3= 1mark ** No excuses or accommodations for missed tutorials. WEEKLY READINGS All students are expected to complete their readings before coming to class. Lectures are not designed to substitute for the readings. Please check D2L regularly as readings may change. It is *your responsibility* to keep up with announcements and instructions, if you miss a class or tutorial session. PLEASE NOTE THE FIRST DATE REPRESENTS LECTURE; THE SECOND TUTORIAL. Week 1, Jan 18/wed; Jan 23/ mon.: Social Historical Constructions Of Women And Islam Introduction to the course. Film and Discussion: Muhammed: The Legacy of a Prophet. Week 2, Jan 25 /wed; Jan 30 /mon : Social Historical Constructions Of Women And Islam Orientalism, Colonialism and Nationalism Ahmed, L. (1992). Social and Intellectual Change. In Ahmed, L. Women and Gender in Islam. Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven & London. Yale University Press. Pp. 127-13 Film excerpts: Orientalism Week 3, Feb1/wed; Feb 6/mon: Social Historical Constructions: Muslim Women And Veiling FILM : We will watch the film Under one Sky in class. Please complete the following readings for discussion of the film. Hoodfar, H. 1993. “The veil in their minds and on our heads: the persistence of colonial images of Muslim women.” Resources for Feminist Research . Vol. 22. Iss. 3/4 Fall1992/Winter 1993. pp. 5-18. Week 4 , Feb 8/wed; Feb 13 /mon : “ Saving Muslim Women?” The world after September 11, 2001 Abu-Lughod, L. (2002). "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist 104 (3): 783-790. *Mid Term Exam in class on Feb 13 Monday from 12:15-1:45. Week 5, Feb 15/wed, Feb 27/ mon ;; Muslim Women and the State in Canada: Key legislations --TBA ****** Study week = Feb 20-26****** 5 Week 6 March 1/wed; March 6 /mon: Women and the State in Muslim Majority Societies Kandiyoti, Denise (1994). Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the Nation. In Williams, P. and Carisman, L. (eds). Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory. New York: Columbia University Press. Pp376-391. Ziba Mir-Hosseini(2006). Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism. Critical Inquiry 32 (Summer 2006) 629-645. Week 7, March 8/wed; 13/mon: Women and the State in Muslim Majority Societies Rinaldo, Rachel (2008). Muslim women, middle class habitus, and modernity in Indonesia. Contemporary Islam, Volume 2, Number 1 / March, 2008 Week 8 March 15 /wed; March 20 /mon: Women and Community **Guest Speakers In Class On Wednesday March 13 Zine, Jasmin. 2008. “Honour and Identity: An Ethnographic Account of Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School.” Topia , 19, Spring: 35-61. *Essay due in Class Monday March 20.* Week 9, March 22/wed; March 27/mon : Women and Community Mcmurray, Anaya. (2008). Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women Be Down with Hip-Hop? Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism . 2008, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 74–92]. Week 10, March 29/wed; April 3/mon : Women And Mystical Traditions In Islam Chittick, William C. (2000) Sufism: A Short Introduction . Oxford: Oneworld. Chapters 1 &2. Mernissi, Fatima (1977). Women, Saints, and Sanctuaries. Signs , Vol. 3, No. 1, Autumn, 1977, pp. 101-112. Week 11, April 5/wed; April 10/mon: Faith-based Strategies for Gender Equality Barlas, Asma (2003). Islam, Women, and Equality: Reading the Qur’an for Liberation (Talk) Ithaca College, March 19, 2003. http://www.asmabarlas.com/TALKS/IslamWomenEquality.pdf Habib, Samar. 2008. “Queer-Friendly Islamic Hermeneutics.” ISIM Review ( International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World) 2 1 / Spring 2008, 32-33. Week 12, April 12/wed : Faith-based Strategies for Gender Equality 6

SOC | 885 | Women and Islam | lecture notes | Less than 3= 1mark ** No excus

MYSTICAL_DIMENSION_WIN_2017.ppt-Women and Mystical Women and Mystical

US –Soviet Proxy War 1979-1989 • 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan • Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union became ‘proxy’ war. • CIA money and advanced weapons for guerilla fighters or ‘mujahideen.” • Pakistan and Saudi Arabia support US. • Young Muslim men invited to join War . • Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri in Afghanistan. • Soviet Union withdraws in 1989. Later disintegrates into Russia, Ukraine etc. • Chaos and infghting in Afghanistan. Taliban rule 1996-2001 • The Taliban impose severe laws in the name of “Shariah.” • Including women to fully veil or face penalities. • Restrict and ban women’s eduation, employment. • Destruction of 100-year old ancient Buddha statues as“un-Islamic” . September 11, 2001 Attacks on Buildings in New York and Washington • US links Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda • The Taliban refuses to hand over Bin Laden. • October 7, 2001: British and American forces begin air strikes in Afghanistan and take Kabul. • Invasion of Iraq 2003. • Taliban rule ends . • A new constitution gives equal rights to men and women. • May 2, 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. military and CIA forces in Pakistan. Laura Bush’s address State/Policymakers e.g. First Lady Laura Bush’s address to the nation on Nov 17, 2001 • blurred Afghan women’s problems veiling health , poverty etc • set up opposition between civilizations • encouraged American women to support the bombing of Afghanistan- • Colonial Feminism: N on-western women’s issues are used to justify Western military invasion or colonial domination of their societies. Example: • Laura Bush’s speech • Lord Cromer’s focus on Egyptian women’s veil as a sign of oppression • Unveiling of women in Algeria 1958 RHETORIC OF SAVING? “ Projects of saving other women depend on and reinforce a sense of superiority by the West, a form of arrogance that deserves to be challenged.” 789-90 : Says more about Western attitudes than their situation. • ‘Other’ women are needy, ‘we’ are strong. Ignores how ‘they’ define their problems and what they are doing or want to do about it. • Assumes that freedom and oppression mean the same thing to them as us; impose our view of the world on everyone else Cultural relativism: • According to Franz Boas a 19 Century anthropologist: Cultural norms and values make sense only to those within the culture. Abu Lughod:What is our responsibility in the political conditions of other societies? • Not Indifference: present world is a product of historical interactions. (786-7) • Not be selective about oppressions. • Oppressions may include veiling but also poverty, war and dislocation. • Respect for differences race, culture, gender, class etc .

SOC | 885 | Women and Islam | lecture notes | US –Soviet Proxy War 1979-1989

SOC 885 WIN 2017 Amina Jamal “Muslim women’s issues” today? - Political status - Education - Legal status - Health, Sexuality and body  Many political, social and cultural issues related to gender and women in Islam may be more eﬀectively understood by referring not to the Quran and Hadith (founding texts of Islam) but to the 19 century encounter between Muslim societies and European colonizers-Colonialism. Postcolonial Scholars  Edward Said: Professor English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Died in 2003. Author of Orientalism.  Leila Ahmed: Professor of Women’s Studies in Harvard University in USA. . Leila Ahmed’s book Women and Gender in Islam is a very important foundational text for scholars in in contemporary sociological and feminist studies of Women and Islam. Colonialism • “a policy in which a country rules other nations and develops trade for its own beneﬁt.” • http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_18615986 73/colonialism.html  “The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/deﬁnition/english/colonialism. Accessed Septe mber 17 , 2015.  Orientalism: a legacy of Colonialism Some Postcolonial Arguments  Colonialism is also an "encounter" between peoples  involves conquest and domination of one group by the other  cultural and social interactions.  Modern colonialism extracted goods and wealth from colonies -it restructured them economically, culturally and socially  Disrupted their knowledge systems. Inﬂuenced their ways of knowing the world and themselves. Colonialism and gender in Muslim societies  Ahmed, L., 1992, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate , New Haven, Yale University Press. Ahmed’s work  places the study of Muslim women’s experiences within the histories of colonialism and anti-colonial nationalism  takes into account diﬀerences such as class, race, sexuality and so on. To understand contemporary debates about “Muslim women’s oppression” Ahmed says we must understand the social and cultural eﬀects of colonialism on Muslim societies. Q: Did Egyptian women beneﬁt from modernizing reforms and colonialism? Egypan society in the context of colonial rule during the 19 C.  Varied eﬀects for women of diﬀerent classes  Example: Educational opportunities for upper classes; loss of traditional sources of work for poorer women Eﬀects of Colonialism were “complicated” , even negative in general but they started a process of change in women’s lives that was beneﬁcial.

SOC | 885 | Women and Islam | lecture notes | SOC 885 WIN 2017 Amina Jamal “

Faculty of Arts Department of Sociology SOC 885: Women and Islam  WIN 2017 POSTER PROJECT= 15 marks Submission date: * Monday April 10 - Submission in Class This is a group project. No individual submissions will be accepted. Last date to add/drop group members **March 20**. Any concern regarding group members’ input/participation must be made to me by this date. Community Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) engages student in projects that link their academic learning to community priorities. CELT activities help students in developing leadership and civic engagement skills, making links between theory and practice, and thinking critically about pressing community issues and solutions. For this project you have to make a poster that will educate the public about an issue in the course Women and Islam. ***This project will be benefit from regular participation in tutorial class. STEPS: 1. Divide into groups of 4-6. 2. Review the issues/topics from the list below . You may do a topic or issue not on this list but please consult me first. 3. Design a poster on something new /interesting that you learnt about this topic from the readings. 4. There is no need for research outside the course material. 5. Each group will prepare a Poster for in class presentation. 6. Each Poster must be accompanied by a 250- word essay on: “Why this topic/issue is important." TOPICS: 1. Orientalism, Colonialism and Muslim Women. 2. Women, Veiling and Unveiling. 3. Media Representations of Muslim Women 4. Muslim Girls and “Honor.” 5. Intersection of Black and Muslim Identities 6. Muslim Girls and Hip-Hop 7. Women And Mystical Traditions In Islam 8. Reading the Quran for Women’s Rights 9. Muslim Women’s Struggle for Queer Rights POSTER SPECIFICATIONS|: 1. SIZE: 8.5 x 14 inches (Legal Size paper) . 2. POSTER TEXT (including headings, copy and bibliography): Minimum 500- maximum 800 words. 3. TITLE: Must include a catchy and informative title that must communicate a key idea, argument or thesis. For example: “ Did you know the Quran does not prescribe a specific punishment for homosexuality.” OR “Compulsory Veiling Can Be Oppressive Not Liberating for Many Women in Muslim Societies.” Be creative! 4. SCHOLARLY SUPPORT: A short quote from one of the scholars included in course topic. This quote should relate directly to the theme of your poster. 5. INFORMATION: 4-6- points key on the topic. 6. VISUAL: An effective and appropriate visual. 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY. ***NOTE: Items 2-7 are to be integrated into the poster--not printed on the back or on additional paper.** 8. Write the names and signatures of each group member on the reverse side of the poster. GRADING CRITERIA FOR THE POSTER Criteria Mark Remarks THEME/IDEA MARKS 3 marks 1. Catchy & Informative Title 2. Main idea thought – provoking and easy to understand. 3. Quotation is appropriate. CONTENT 4 marks 1. Points are well summarized and explained. 2. Points clearly support the thesis/idea. 3. Appropriate balance between Quote and key Points. 4. Documentation of Sources: all material is accurately attributed. VISUAL=3 marks 1. Attractive and attention-getting. 2. Visual and Images relate directly to the message. 3. Well organized and easy to follow. PRESENTATION= 4 marks 250 word rationale plus presentation EXCEPTIONAL WORK= 1 mark Original idea. Unique message. Outstanding visual.

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