Bibliography: Women and Islam
NOTE: IJMES stands for International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Modern, General History and Theory:
Afary, Janet, “Feminism and the Challenge of Muslim Fundmentalism,” in Spoils of War: Women of color, cultures and revolutions. Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 83-100.
Bodman, Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi, Women in Muslim Societies: diversity within unity. Boulder: Lynne Reinner 1998.
Bowen, Donna Lee, “Abortion, Islam and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference,” in International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 29, no. 2, 161-184.
Burton, Antoinette, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women and Imperial Culture 1865-1915. University of North Carolina Press 1994.
El Saadawi, Nawal, The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World. Boston: Beacon Press 1980.
El Guindi, Fadwa, Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance. Berg Publishers, 1999. An anthropology of Islamic veiling.
Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World. Editor: Mahnaz Afkami. Syracuse University Press, 1995.
Hatem, Mervat, “Modernization, the State, and the Family in Middle East Women’s Studies,” in Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East, editors Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker. Westview, 1999. Pp. 63-87.
Jawad, Haifaa, The Rights of Women in Islam: an authentic approach. MacMillan Press, 1998.
Kandiyoti, Deniz, “Contemporary Feminist Scholarship and Middle East Studies,” in Gendering the Middle East: Emerging Perspectives, editor Deniz Kandiyoti. Syracuse University Press, 1996.
Lerner, Gerda, The Creation of Patriarchy. [Volume I of the two volume series Women and History]. Oxford University Press 1986.
Mernissi, Fatima, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Indiana University Press. Revised edition, 1985.
Mernissi, Fatima, The Veil and the Male Elite: a feminist interpretation of women’s rights in Islam. Addison-Wesley, 1991. .
Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, editors Elizabeth Fernea and Basima Bezirgan. University of Texas 1977.
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba, Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton, 1999.
Mojab, Shahrzad, “Women and the Gulf War: A Critique of Feminist Responses,” in Spoils of War: Women of color, cultures and revolutions. Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 59-82.
Nashat, Guity, and Judith Tucker, Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Series: Restoring Women to History. Indiana University Press 1998.
Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. Editor Lila Abu-Lughod. Princeton University Press 1998. Series: Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History. Includes articles on women and women’s movements in many Middle Eastern countries in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Scott, Joan Wallach, Gender and the Politics of History. Columbia University Press 1988. Chapter 1, “Women’s History” and 2, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” pp. 15-50.
Abou El Fadl, Khaled, Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women. Oxford: Oneworld Press 2001.
Ask, K. (Karin) and Marit Tjomsland, Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations. Oxford: Berg Press 1998.
Bakhtiar, Laleh, Sufi Women of America: Angels in the Making. Chicago: Institute of Traditional Ethics and Guidance, 1996. Volume in Coe.
Doumato, Eleanor Abdella, Getting God’s Ear: Women, Islam and Healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Columbia University Press 2000. Volume in Coe. This book has substantial sections on women’s practice of Wahhabi Islam and also women’s non-orthodox practices, particularily possession.
Smith, Margaret, “Rabi’a the Mystic,” in Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, pp. 37-66.
Berkey, Jonathan, “Circumcision Circumscribed: Female Excision and Cultural Accomodation in the Medieval Near East,” in IJMES Vol. 28, no. 1, 19-38.
Berkey, Jonathan, “Women and Islamic Education in the Mamluk Period,” in Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, editors Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron. Yale University Press 1991. Pp. 143-157
Fadel, Mohammad, “Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought,” in IJMES Vol. 29, no. 2, 185-204.
Fernea, Elizabeth and Basima Bezirgan, “’A’ishah bint Abi Bakr,” in Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, University of Texas 1977, pp. 27-36.
Fernea, Elizabeth and Basima Bezirgan, “The Koran on the Subject of Women,” in Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, University of Texas 1977, pp. 7-26.
Mernissi, Fatima, The Forgotten Queens of Islam. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1993.
Mernissi, Fatima, Women and Islam: an Historical and Theological Enquiry. Blackwell 1991.
Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press 1993.
Women in the Medieval Islamic World, ed. Gavin Hambly. St. Martin’s Press 1998.
Africa
Callaway, Barbara, and Lucy Creevey, The Heritage of Islam: Women, Religion and Politics in West Africa. Boulder: Lynn Reinner, 1984.
Mack, Beverly B. and Jean Boyd, One Woman’s Jihad: Nana Asma’u, Scholar and Scribe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2000.
Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint. Editor Suha Sabbagh. Olive Branch Press, 1997. Contains articles that concern women’s education, rights, and political participation in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine/Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen.
Faqir, Fadia, In the House of Silence: Autobiographical Essays by Arab Women Writers. Reading: Garnet, 1998.
Hijab, Nadia, “Women and Work in the Arab World,” in Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint. Olive Branch Press 1997. Pp. 41-53.
Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing. Editors Margot Badran and Miriam Cooke. Indiana University Press 1990.
Shaaban, Bouthaina, Both Right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk about their Lives. Indiana University Press 1991.
Bennoune, Karima, “S.O.S. Algeria: Women’s Human Rights under Siege,” in Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, ed. Mehnaz Afkami. Syracuse University Press 1995.
Lazreg, Marnia, The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Messaoudi, Khalida, Unbowed: An Algerian Woman Confronts Islamic Fundamentalism. University of Pennsylvania Press 1998.
Seikaly, May, “Women and Social Change in Bahrain,” in IJMES Vol. 26, no. 3, 415-426.
Jahan, Roushan, “Hidden Wounds, Visible Scars: Violence Against Women in Bangladesh,” in Structures of Patriarchy: State, Community and Household in Modernizing Asia. Editor Bina Agarwal. London: Zed Books 1988. pp. 199-227.
Amin, Qasim, The Liberation of Women and The New Woman: Two Documents in the History of Egyptian Feminism. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press 2000.
Atiya, Nayra, Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories. Syracuse University Press 1982.
Badran, Margot, Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton University Press 1995.
Badran, Margot, Harem Years: the Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist (1879-1924). By Huda Shaarawi. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1987. Volume in Coe.
Baron, Beth, The Women’s Awakening in Egypt: Culture, Society and the Press. Yale University Press 1994.
Bibars, Iman, Victims and Heroines: Women, Welfare and the Egyptian State. London: Zed Books, 2001.
Hoffman-Ladd, Valerie, “Polemics on the Modesty and Segregation of Women in Contemporary Egypt,” in IJMES Vol. 19, no. 1, 23-50.
Tucker, Judith, Women in Nineteenth Century Egypt. Cambridge University Press 1985.
Minault, Gail, Secluded Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India. Oxford University Press 1998. .
Amanat, Abbas (translator), Crowing Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity 1884-1914. Author: Taj al-Saltana. Washington: Mage 1993.
Esfandiari, Haleh, Reconstructed Lives: Women & Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Johns Hopkins University Press 1997.
Ferdows, Adele K., and Amir H., “Women in Shi`i Fiqh: Images Through the Hadith,” in Women and Revolution in Iran, ed. Guity Nashat. Boulder: Westview 1983. Pp. 55-68.
Friedl, Erika, Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village. Penguin Books, 1991.
Kamalkhani, Zehra, Women’s Islam: Religious Practice among Women in Today’s Iran. London: Kegan Paul International 1998.
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba, Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton, 1999.
Najmabadi, Afsaneh, “Crafting an Educated Housewife in Iran,” in Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East, editor Lila Abu-Lughod. Princeton, 1998. Chapter 3, pp. 91-125.
Reeves, Minou, Female warriors of Allah : women and the Islamic revolution. New York : Dutton, c1989.
Shahidian, Hammed, “The Iranian Left and the ‘Woman Question’ in the Revolution of 1978-79,” in IJMES Vol. 26 no. 2, 223-247.
Talatoff, Kamran, “Iranian Women’s Literature: From Pre-Revolutionary Social Discourse to Post-Revolutionary Feminism,” in International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 29, no. 4, 531-558.
Gallagher, Nancy, “Women’s Human Rights on Trial in Jordan: The Triumph of Toujan al-Faisal,” and Toujan al-Faisal, “ They Insult us and We Elect Them,”in Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, ed. Mehnaz Afkami. Pp. 209-237..
Morocco:
Mernissi, Fatima, Doing Daily Battle: Interviews with Moroccan Women. Rutgers, 1989.
Chatty, Dawn, ‘Women Working in Oman: Individual choice and Cultural Constraints,” in International Journal of Middle East Studies, May 2000, Vol. 32, No. 2, 241-254.
Mumtaz, Khawar and Farida Shaheed, Women of Pakistan: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back? London: Zed 1987.
Agmon, Iris, “Women, Class and Gender: Muslim Jaffa and Haifa at the Turn of the 20th Century,” in International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 30, no. 4, 477-500.
Moors, Annelies, Women, Property and Islam: Palestinian Experiences 1920-1990. Cambridge University Press 1995.
Sharoni, Simona, Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: the Politics of Women’s Resistance. Syracuse University Press 1995. This book is essential reading if you are doing research on Palestine/Israel; Sharoni outlines women’s movements among Israelis and Palestinians and discusses their interactions.
Sabbagh, Suha, Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank, Indiana University Press 1998.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates)
Doumato, Eleanor Abdella, Getting God’s Ear: Women, Islam and Healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Columbia University Press 2000.
Mughni, Haya, Women in Kuwait: the Politics of Gender. London: Saqi Books, 2001.
Gole, Nilufer, The Forbidden Modern:
Civilization and Veiling. University of Michigan Press 1996.
Bakhtiar, Laleh, Sufi Women of America, Angels in the Making. Institute of Traditional Psychoethics and Guidance, 1996.
Barazangi, Nimat, “Parents and Youth: Perceiving and Practicing Islam in North America,” in Family and Gender among American Muslims, eds. Aswad and Bilge.
Family and Gender among American Muslims: issues facing Middle Eastern Immigrants and their Descendants. Editors Barbara Aswad and Barbara Bilge. Temple University 1996.
Khan, Shahnaz, Muslim Women Crafting a North American Identity. University Press of Florida, 2000. pp. 105-123, “Selecting What to Believe” on Reserve. Volume in Coe.
Walbridge, Linda, “Sex and the Single Shi`ite: Mut`a Marriage in an American Lebanese Shi`ite Community,” in Family and Gender among American Muslims, eds. Aswad and Bilge. Pp. 143-154 on Reserve.
Fiction, literature, autobiography, etc.:
Hoops of Fire: Fifty Years of Fiction by Pakistani Women. Editor Aamer Hussein. Saqi Books, 1999.
Djebar, Assia, Fantasia, an Algerian Cavalcade. Trans. Dorothy S. Blair. Portsmouth: Heinemann 1993.
Djebar, Assia, A Sister to Scheherazade. Trans. Dorothy S. Blair. Portsmouth: Heinemann 1987.
Faqir, Fadia, Nisanit. (a novel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) Penguin, 1987.
In a Voice of their Own: a collection of Stories by Iranian Women. Trans. Franklin Lewis and Farzin Yazdanfar. Costa Mesa: Mazda 1996.
Orlando, Valarie, “Women, War, Autobiography, and the Historiographic Metafictional Text: Unveiling the Veiled in Assia Djebar’s L’amour, la fantasia,” in Spoils of War: Women of color, cultures and revolutions. Rowman and Littlefield, 1997, pp. 103-111.
Asayesh, Gelareh, Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America. Boston: Beacon Press 1999.