Suchergebnisse

Abstract'Provincializing Europe', derived from Dipesh Chakrabarty's work of that name, argued that an imagined 'Europe' was a founding myth for modernity. While not mentioning feminism, this analysis is a valuable starting point for tracing the path of the term 'féminism' from France to Britain to the Ottoman Empire and from the USA to the Arab world – in the contexts of each venue. This article provides a firm basis for comparing the advancement of women in the West and the Middle East. Some factors were similar, such as the influence of religious gender values, others differed, such as industrialisation.

Abstract: In the last century, in both Islam and Judaism, female religious trailblazers have taken on roles traditionally dominated by men. In this study, I examine parallels between individual Muslim and Jewish female religious trailblazers under three rubrics: Exegesis of the Holy Book : Nehama Leibowitz and Aisha Abd al-Rahman; Delving into Oral Law : Judith Hauptman and Kecia Ali; and Crafting Responsa : Suad Saleh and Malka Puterkovsky. Remarkably, although these Muslim and Jewish women functioned in very different societies and within rather different religious traditions, they have much in common. The reasons for this seem to be the similar sociologies of Judaism and Islam, on the one hand, and the increasing globalization of the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries, on the other. Inevitably, there has been disagreement as to the extent to which these women were themselves feminists or contributed to women's advancement, dealt with the patriarchy of their time and place, or explicitly supported male dominance.

AbstractWhen Francophone creative artist Assia Djebar decided to write a semi-fictional work on the early years of Islam, she brought to this endeavor her life experience in the context of Algerian history and French colonial influence. Her writing reveals changing attitudes towards Algerian women and Islam, in response to ongoing events.Far from Medina was influenced by the chain of modern biographies of the Prophet Muhammad produced in English, French and Arabic. Early Islamic feminist endeavors also informed her work. Most fascinating is the dialogue that Djebar seems to have carried out with classical Islamic texts, revealed in the format and style of the book.Djebar proposes that the death of Muhammad, and to a greater extent the death of his daughter Fatima six months later, were turning points in women's roles in Islamic society—taking the Muslims "Far From Medina," where women were strong and stood up for their rights.