Women and Islam
SYLLABUS
History 4335 Section 1
Also: WMST 4500 sec. 1;
Fall 2004
Mondays, 7-9:30 pm, CR 103
Instructor: Marianne Kamp
Office Hours: T 1-2:30; W 1:30-3 pm
Tel.: 6-5103
Email: mkamp@uwyo.edu
Back to Marianne Kamp’s Home Page (uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/mkamp)
Password:
Please check the syllabus on a weekly basis for changes in reading assignments.
Can a cultural and religious system that regards gender
difference as immutable produce gender equality? This course will examine women’s lives in
Islamic societies from the seventh century to the present, in the
All written work will be submitted via Ecompanion. Instructions, or Instructions for logging onto Ecompanion.
Interdisciplinary Approaches and Questions
Written Work, Expectations of Students,
and Grading:
Required Books, available for purchase at the
Ahmed, Leila, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots
of a Modern Debate.
Doumato, Eleanor, Getting
God’s Ear: Women, Islam, and Healing in
Joseph, Suad, Gender and Citizenship in the
Mernissi, Fatima, Dreams of Trespass. Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1994.
Nafisi, Azar, Reading
Lolita in
Reserve Reading List: Numerous articles and selected chapters from other books will be made available on reserve. A few short articles and texts will be available on-line, with links from this page.
Bibliography of Works suggested for reading, review, research
Aug 30 Intro to Islam
Statistics of Muslim Populations
Introductions, Lecture: Islam and its Origins
Names, terms, maps of early Islam
Film: Living Islam Series #4,
Read for next class: Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass (all)
Mernissi discussed two singers in Dreams of Tresspass. To learn more about them or listen to their songs: Umm Kulthum and Asmahan
First essay, on Mernissi, due Sept. 15.
Sept. 6 No Class, Labor Day
Sept 13 Context: Islam, Women and Culture
Discuss Mernissi
Read for next week: Ahmed, pp. 1-63
‘A’ishah bint Abi Bakr, read on-line text
Sept 15: DUE by midnight. First Essay, on Mernissi. Submit via Ecompanion.
Sept 20 Early Islam and Women: wives
Discuss in class: Ahmed, pp. 1-63, and ‘A’ishah
Group work in class: reading Qur’an and traditions
Read for next week:
Ahmed p. 64-101
Sections of the Qur’an on women: [you may read selections from the Qur’an on line; or if you own a Qur’an, read your own]
Citations: verses concerning women (just citations, not text)
Qur’an (Three versions, with search engine)
Sept 27 Qur’an and Women
Discuss in Class: Ahmed p. 64-101, and
Qur’an (Three versions, with search engine)
Read for next week:
Ahmed Ch. 6
Roded, Ruth“Sayings
of the Prophet: selective quotation,” in Women in Islam and the
Hadith collections: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html (look for a term that interests you)
On e reserve:
Fadel, “Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power and Gender in
Medieval Sunni Legal Thought,” in International
Journal of
Oct. 4 Islamic law and Tradition
Discuss in class: Ahmed Ch 6, Fadel, Roded
Handout: Timeline: Political History of Islamic World, 622-1950s
Read for next week on library e-reserve:
Engels, Friedrich, The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State, Ch.2, sec. 3. Penguin Books 1985; originally published 1884. Pp. 76-92.
Kandiyoti, Deniz, “Bargaining with Patriarchy,” in Gender and Society, 1988, 2(3): 274-290.
Lerner, Gerda, The
Creation of Patriarchy. [Volume I of the two volume
series Women and History].
Said, Edward, Orientalism.
El Saadawi, Nawal, The
Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World.
Mernissi, Fatima, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics
in Modern Muslim Society.
Haddawy, Husain, translator, The Arabian Nights.
Assignment: Group discussion on Ecompanion; plan presentation for next week’s class
Oct 11 Feminist Theory, post-colonialism, and study of the Muslim world
Presentations and discussion in class: Engels, Lerner, Kandiyoti, Said, El-Saadawi, Mernissi, Arabian Nights
Read for next week:
Ahmed, Ch 7.
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.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, Turkish Embassy Letters.
A happy captive (133-137)
Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab
Feminist Writing. Editors Margot Badran and Miriam Cooke.
Oct 18 Muslim Women and Education
Handout: Literacy Statistics for countries with Muslim majority populations
Selection from The Wisdom of Royal Glory
Discuss in class: Ahmed, Berkey, Montagu
Read for next Week:
Ahmed, Chapters 8-9
Read on e- reserve:
Amin, Qasim, The Liberation of
Women and the New Woman: Two Documents in the History of Egyptian Feminism. Trans. Samiha Sidhom
Peterson.
DUE OCT 29, Friday, by midnight: Second Essay. Submit via ecompanion
Oct 25 Imperialism and Veiling
Discuss in class: Ahmed, Amin
Read for next week:
Doumato, Getting God’s Ear, 1-129
DUE OCT 29, Friday, by midnight: Second Essay. Submit via ecompanion
Nov. 1 Women’s Religious Experience,
Discuss: Doumato
Read for next week: Doumato 130-233
Nov 8 Women, Religion and State in
Intro: Marriage and Divorce in Law and practice
Film: Divorce Iranian Style
For next week
Read on e-reserve:
Jawad, Haifaa, The Rights of Women in Islam: an authentic approach. MacMillan Press, 1998. Pp. 61-82, Islam and Women’s Inheritance, and The Dissolution of Marriage in Islam. On E-Reserve
Three views on temporary marriage: Shi’a (pro), Sunni (anti), Sunni (pro),
Urfi marriage in
Read selections from Gender and Citizenship. Each student will participate in a group that will present on two of the Gender and Citizenship articles.
Suffrage: When did women get the right to vote?
Women in Parliament: How well are women represented in governments?
Nov 15 Presentations on Gender and Citizenship
Read for next Nov 29: Reading Lolita in Tehran (all) Answer discussion questions on E-Companion
Nov. 22 No Class
Nov. 29 Discuss in class Reading Lolita in Tehran
Read on e-reserve:
An-Na’im, Abdullahi, “The Dichotomy between Religious and Secular Discourse in Islamic Societies,” in Afkami, Mahnaz, Faith & Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, Syracuse University Press, 1995, pp. 51-60
Abu-Lughod
Meyer, Ann Elizabeth, “Rhetorical Strategies and Official Policies on Women’s Rights: The Merits and Drawbacks of the New World Hypocrisy,” in Afkami, 104-132. On E-reserve
Bibars, Iman, Victims
and Heroines: Women, Welfare and the
Abu-Lughod, Lila, “Do Muslim Women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others.”
Dec. 6 Women’s Rights; Islamist Movements
Research Presentations, Discussion of Women’s Rights Readings
Film: Born Again Muslims
Dec. 13, Third essay or Research Paper due.