This course is designed to introduce the students to the problematic questions related to gender and gender roles in North African societies with a particular focus on the Moroccan context. We will read literary texts and articles, visit some women’s associations and discuss issues of gender, identity, society, religion and politics as they pertain to women from the Arab-Islamic Context.
Additional student cost:
Field trip transportation fees.
Learning outcomes:
By the completion of this course, students will be able to:
To acquire a profound knowledge of contemporary feminist scholarship and activism in North Africa and their engagement with power
To gain a multi-disciplinary understanding of women’s contemporary writings in North Africa
To Learn about Feminist activism in North African in General and Morocco in Particular
To develop a sense of the complexity of gender issues and the challenges facing a gender-based reform
To get an understanding of the challenges women facing within the context of “change “ in north Africa and Morocco in particular.
To develop an individual and critical approach to gender and society issues in North Africa
Method of presentation:
The course will follow a mixed lecture-seminar format. Marks will be based on one mid-term test, a research paper on a topic related to the subject of the course and a final exam, in addition to class participation (through formal presentations based on the required readings).
Required work and form of assessment:
Active class participation and attendance : 30%
Midterm exam : 20%
Term paper (10-15 pages): 30%
Final exam : 20%
content:
Week 1:General Introduction of the Basic Concepts
Gender and Moroccan Society between Tradition and Modernization
Francis. M. Deutsch, ‘Undoing Gender’, Gender and Society, Vol. 21. N.1.(Feb 2007), pp.106-127.
Leila Abouzeid, Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman’s Journey Toward Independence, Austin: University of Texas, 2009, Introduction.
Moghadam, Valentine, ModernizingWomen: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East, Boulder: L. Rienner, 1993.
Clinton Bennett, Muslimsand Modernity: An introduction to the Issues and Debates, London and New York: Continuum, 2005, pp: 17-30.
Week 2: Gender, Family and the Family Code (Moudawana)
Halim Barakat, ‘The Arab and the Challenge of Social Transformation’ in Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, Women and the Family in the Middle East, Austin, University of Texas Press, pp:27-47.
Susan S. Davis, Patience and Power: Women’s Lives in a Moroccan Village, pp: 127-179.
Emanuela Dalmasso, ‘Family Code in Morocco’; State Feminism or Democracy?’ Paper to be presented at the 2nd ECPR Graduate Conference,Barcelona, August 26, 2008
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. “How the Door of Ijtihad Was Opened and Closed: A Comparative Analysis of Recent Family Law Reforms in Iran and Morocco,” in Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol. 64, No.4 (2007).
Week 3:Women Challenging Patriarchy: Islamic Feminism and Female Religious Leadership
Cooke, Miriam. “A Muslim Sister” in Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism through Literature. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Wadud, Amina. Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Mernissi, Fatima, The Veil and the Male Elite: a Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam, Addison-Wesley, 1991.
Bouhdiba Abdelwahad, ‘Festivities of violence: Circumcision and the Making of Men’, pp:20-29
Mai Ghossoub and Emma Sinclair-Webb, ‘Imagined Masculinities’, pp:1-47
Kecia Ali, Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith and Jurisprudence, pp:75-96
Fieldwork trip to two Islamist women’s associations : Tajdi Alwai Anissai and Insaf
Week 5: Review and Midterm Exam
Week 6: Gender and Development
Edna Acosta-Bellen & Christine E. Bose, ‘From Structural Subordination to Empowerment: Women nd Development in Third World Contexts’, Gender & Society, Vol.4 No, 3, September1990, 299-320.
Bourquia ‘Women, Uncertainty and Reproduction in Morocco’
Capchan.D, Gender on the Market
Mernissi, ‘Women and the Impact of Capitalist Development in Morocco Part II’
Week 7: Gender and Space
Miriam Hoexter, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Nehemia Levtzion, The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002, pp: 1-9
Mernissi, Fatima, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, Massachussetts, Perseus Books,1994, pp:1-12
Week 8: Gender and Education
Chrisie J. Edwards, Gender Budget Analysis in Morocco: Achieving Education Parity for Women and Girls, DePaul Rule of Law Journal, International Human Rights Law Institute, Fall 2010.
Week 9: Gender and Political Participation
Sherine, Hafez. The Terms of Empowerement : Islamic Women Activists in Egypt. American University Press. Cairo. 2001
Fieldwork trip to a secular women’s association: Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc.
Week 10: Gender and Youth
Mary Bucholtz, Youth and Cultural Practice, Annual Review of Anthropology , Vol 31, (2002),PP: 525-552.
Week 11: Gender, The Arab Spring and Social Change
Ebadi, S.,Director,MiddleEastProgram, “Reflections on Women in the Arab Spring”, MiddleEastProgram:WoodrowWilsonCenterInternational CenterforScholars, March 8, 2012.\
Ramadan, T. “Neither an Arab Spring Nor Revolutions” tariqramadan.com, October 9, 2011. Accessed March 13, 2012.
ICAN Report, ‘What the Women Say: The Arab Spring & Implications for Women”. Interntional Civil Society Action Network for Women’s Rights, Peace and Security. Retrieved December 2011
Week 12: Review and Final Exam
Required readings:
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992.
Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam and Nation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Cooke, miriam. Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism through Literature. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. 1975. Intro. Bloomington and Indiana Polis: Indiana University Press, 1987.
Moghadam, Valentine. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. Boulder: L. Rienner, 1993
Wadud, Amina. Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Mernissi, Fatima, The Veil and the Male Elite: a Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam, Addison-Wesley, 1991
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Fatima Amrani has a Ph.D. from the School of Performing Arts, Surrey University, UK in 2001. The title of her thesis is ‘Stripping off the Veil: Intercultural Performances of the Veil from Street to Stage’. She is a professor of Gender, Performance and Islamic Studies. She is the director of Women’s and Gender Studies Master Program at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Dhar Mehraz, Fes. She is a member of many local and international organizations: She is a founder of Women’s Studies Center in 1997 at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Dhar Mehraz, Fes, a member of an association of women called “Ichaa” in Fes, a member of Initiatives to the Protection of Human Rights in Morocco, a director and the founder of The Group for Performance and Gender Research at Fes University, a local moderator of the SMART Lab Centre for Research and Tools Development in Performing and Digital Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art Design, London, U.K. International Education Coordiantor for SafetyNet, a Contributing Director of The StreetscalledHome program, U.K. A member of UniS Surrey Alumni Society, U.K. She was a fellow visitor to Elisabeth Queen’s House Women’s Studies Center at Oxford University, UK. She was a Fulbright Grantee in 2006 at the Women’s Studies Center, Florida Atlantic University, USA within its program ‘A direct Access to the Muslim World’. Her first play The Harem was published in The Moroccan Cultural Studies Centre, Fes, Morocco 2004. Her collection of plays No More is in the press. Her two books To Each Her Own Veil: Performing Veils in Morocco and Gender, Performance and the Pri-blic Space in Morocco are in the press, too.
This course is designed to introduce the students to the problematic questions related to gender and gender roles in North African societies with a particular focus on the Moroccan context. We will read literary texts and articles, visit some women’s associations and discuss issues of gender, identity, society, religion and politics as they pertain to women from the Arab-Islamic Context.
Field trip transportation fees.
By the completion of this course, students will be able to:
The course will follow a mixed lecture-seminar format. Marks will be based on one mid-term test, a research paper on a topic related to the subject of the course and a final exam, in addition to class participation (through formal presentations based on the required readings).
Week 1: General Introduction of the Basic Concepts
Gender and Moroccan Society between Tradition and Modernization
Week 2: Gender, Family and the Family Code (Moudawana)
Week 3: Women Challenging Patriarchy: Islamic Feminism and Female Religious Leadership
Week 4: Gender, Sexuality and Islam
Week 5: Review and Midterm Exam
Week 6: Gender and Development
Week 7: Gender and Space
Week 8: Gender and Education
Week 9: Gender and Political Participation
Week 10: Gender and Youth
Week 11: Gender, The Arab Spring and Social Change
Week 12: Review and Final Exam
Fatima Amrani has a Ph.D. from the School of Performing Arts, Surrey University, UK in 2001. The title of her thesis is ‘Stripping off the Veil: Intercultural Performances of the Veil from Street to Stage’. She is a professor of Gender, Performance and Islamic Studies. She is the director of Women’s and Gender Studies Master Program at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Dhar Mehraz, Fes. She is a member of many local and international organizations: She is a founder of Women’s Studies Center in 1997 at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Dhar Mehraz, Fes, a member of an association of women called “Ichaa” in Fes, a member of Initiatives to the Protection of Human Rights in Morocco, a director and the founder of The Group for Performance and Gender Research at Fes University, a local moderator of the SMART Lab Centre for Research and Tools Development in Performing and Digital Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art Design, London, U.K. International Education Coordiantor for SafetyNet, a Contributing Director of The StreetscalledHome program, U.K. A member of UniS Surrey Alumni Society, U.K. She was a fellow visitor to Elisabeth Queen’s House Women’s Studies Center at Oxford University, UK. She was a Fulbright Grantee in 2006 at the Women’s Studies Center, Florida Atlantic University, USA within its program ‘A direct Access to the Muslim World’. Her first play The Harem was published in The Moroccan Cultural Studies Centre, Fes, Morocco 2004. Her collection of plays No More is in the press. Her two books To Each Her Own Veil: Performing Veils in Morocco and Gender, Performance and the Pri-blic Space in Morocco are in the press, too.