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This history of Middle Eastern women is the first to survey gender relations in the Middle East from the earliest Islamic period to the present. Outstanding scholars analyze a rich array of sources ranging from histories, biographical dictionaries, law books, prescriptive treatises, and archival records, to the Traditions (hadith) of the Prophet and imaginative works like the Thousand and One Nights, to modern writings by Middle Eastern women and by Western writers. They show that gender boundaries in the Middle East have been neither fixed nor immutable: changes in family patterns, religious rituals, socio-economic necessity, myth and ideology-and not least, women's attitudes-have expanded or circumscribed women's roles and behavior through the ages

Este dossier aborda algunos de los legados históricos menos explorados de la Guerra Fría al profundizar en la emergencia de una nueva era de las relaciones entre Oriente Medio y América Latina de este periodo. Mediante la difusión de las investigaciones realizadas sobre la implicancia que tuvo el juego de poder geopolítico propio de la Guerra Fría en el impuso de la cooperación sur- sur, en este número se han reunido, además, varios trabajos que no solo transgreden los límites comunes de los estudios de área de estas regiones, sino que también se apartan de los tópicos comunes de las relaciones entre Oriente Medio y América Latina. Por lo general, estos han sido relegados y encasillados en materias tradicionales, tales como el estudio de la migración árabe o de las relaciones internacionales. En este número se hace una clara contribución a la hora de presentar trabajos que, desde distintas perspectivas, pueden plantear un desafío disciplinar a los historiadores centrados en este periodo, especialmente con vistas a la ampliación de su marco contextual de las relaciones entre las dos regiones, lo cual les permita reposicionar los lazos entre Oriente Medio y América Latina dentro de un cuadro histórico más complejo de interacción e intercambio.

Challenging students to identify and analyze diverse perspectives is a key objective in any Middle East studies course. This article describes an assignment used in a history course which asks students to compare and contrast articles from Middle Eastern online newspapers. Comparing multiple articles on the same topic exposes students to contrasting views on significant issues. The easy availability of online newspapers "de-centers" students' perspectives by requiring use of materials from outside the United States. This assignment teaches specific analytical skills, such as finding relevant articles, reading them critically, writing effective summaries, and developing synthetic comparisons. Through an analysis of this assignment, this article discusses the advantages, as well as limitations, of this approach, using students' own evaluations to assess the achievement of desired learning objectives.

The Kurds are one of the largest stateless nations in the world, numbering more than 20 million people. Their homeland lies mostly within the present-day borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran as well as parts of Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Yet until recently the 'Kurdish question' - that is, the question of Kurdish self-determination - seemed, to many observers, dormant. It was only after the so-called Arab Spring, and with the rise of the Islamic State, that they emerged at the centre of Middle East politics. But what is the future of the Kurdish national movement? How do the Kurds themselves understand their community and quest for political representation? This book analyses the major problems, challenges and opportunities currently facing the Kurds. Of particular significance, this book shows, is the new Kurdish society that is evolving in the context of a transforming Middle East. This is made of diverse communities from across the region who represent very different historical, linguistic, political, social and cultural backgrounds that are yet to be understood. This book examines the recent shifts and changes within Kurdish societies and their host countries, and argues that the Kurdish national movement requires institutional and constitutional recognition of pluralism and diversity. Featuring contributions from world-leading experts on Kurdish politics, this timely book combines empirical case studies with cutting-edge theory to shed new light on the Kurds of the 21st century.