Understanding islam, islamism, and islamic feminism margot badran bronwyn winters ambitious piece which covers wide ground reminds us of the challenges involved in debating and analyzing the complexities of gender, islam, islamism, fundamentalism, and feminism. However, this is a grave misconception as margot badran illustrates in this careerspanning collection of influential essays. Secular and religious convergences by margot badran. While many in the west regard feminism and islam as a contradictio.
Borne out of over two decades of work, this volume provides a unique contribution to islam and gender studies. Energetic and passionate about her current research on islam s and feminism s, she spoke on how islamic. An historical overview of conferences on islamic feminism. The historian and gender studies specialist margot badran has devoted her lifes work to the muslim world. In bosnia rising generations of muslim women and men emerging from an atheistic past and the horrors of war are finding their own way back to islam. Her gender politics underscores the authenticity of. In this interview, she talks about the influence of patriarchy on islam and on how islamic feminist ideas draw on the quran and how they find their way into religious teachings. An overview of islamic feminism activities with a focus on the islamic feminism in the islamic republic of iran ann cathrin riedel term paper advanced seminar orientalism sinology islamic studies publish your bachelors or masters thesis, dissertation, term paper or essay. From islamic feminism to a muslim holistic feminism. She explains in her writings that the radicalization that islamists political islam have corrupted islam with the image of.
Islamic feminism has much to contribute to furthering the promotion of shared values and especially to assure. Islam, patriarchy, and feminism in the middle east margot badran the study of women in the middle east, now well into its second decade, has produced an impressive corpus of papers and periodical articles. Legal and literary perspectives is the title of saudi scholar mai yamanis 1996 book comprising the essays of a substantial number of women scholars who are articulating an emerging islamic feminism. Islamic feminism is generally grounded in the quran and islamic prac tice, and is articulated predominantly though not exclusively within an islamic paradigm badran 2009, 241. Notes includes bibliographical references and index. Jul 22, 20 feminists, islam, and nation margot badran download here. Margot badran many in the west regard feminism and islam as a contradiction in terms. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Drawing upon a wide range of womens sources memoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral histories margot badran shows how egyptian women assumed agency and in so doing subverted and refigured the conventional. The egyptian feminist movement reached out to other arabs in the late 1930s and the 1940s.
In their conception a muslim woman is a secluded and passive subject, who neither has any. Indiana university press, 1990, xvxvii 2 margot badran, feminism in islam. This article focuses on the phenomenon of islamic feminism. The best books on islam and feminism five books expert. Towards an islamic state feminism souad eddouada, renata pepicelli many scholars, including margot badran in her contribution to the present volume,1 regard the reform of the family code the code du statut personnel, or moudawana that was. Margot badran on islamic feminism lebanese american university. Drawing upon a wide range of womens sources memoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral histories feminists, islam, and nation tells this story. Badran is a notable historian of the middle east and islamic societies and a specialist in gender studies. Feminists, islam, and nation by margot badran overdrive.
Full text views reflects the number of pdf downloads, pdfs sent to. Pdf understanding islam, islamism, and islamic feminism. Feminists, islam, and nation princeton university press. According to margot badran, islamic feminism emerged out of a critique of both patriarchal islam ism as well as of secular feminism. Despite these proscriptions upon feminism, badran explains that this gender activism is a new and unencumbered, analytic construct. Much of the focus of islamic feminism today centers on promoting genderjust personal status or family laws. Understanding islam, islamism, and islamic feminism. Here she explains what feminism means in the context of islam and chooses five books that have been critical in its evolution. Islamic feminism appeared at the time of an accelerating islamist movement, according to the iranian ziba mirhosseini who initially supported the islamic. The emergence and evolution of egyptian feminism is an integral, but previously untold, part of the history of modern egypt.
Drawing upon a wide range of womens sourcesmemoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral historiesmargot badran shows how egyptian women assumed agency and in so doing subverted and refigured the conventional patriarchal order. The most confusing thing for the nonmuslims particularly in the western world is the position of women in islam. However, the collection as a whole is diverse and distinguishes itself with its inclu sion of stories about. The first part is devoted to feminism in egypt, and the second traces the spread of feminism in the broader muslim world. Drawing upon a wide range of womens sourcesmemoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral historiesmargot badran shows how egyptian women assumed agency and in so doing subverted and refigured the conventional patriarchal.
Secular and religious convergences as want to read. It was the new interpretive work of the islamic feminists that produced the idea of full gender equality within the context of the familya gender equality that accounted for gender differenceas in keeping with islam. The pluralizing of islamic feminism can be read either as announcing or suggesting the need to consider the notion of multiple islamic. Islam, feminism, and islamic feminism between inadequacy and. Islamic feminism is on the whole more radical than muslims secular feminisms. Hence, she chooses to entitle her book feminism in islam rather than islamic feminism. She engage in a debate that aims to test the convergence between the two feminist movements, religious and secular, over time. To this end, badran goes so far as to state end page 115 that, i argue that secular feminism is islamic and islamic feminism is secular 206. Some people do use the arguments of islamic feminism to defend islam from attacks relating to women and gender. Badran s feminism in islam gives a good overview of how feminism had developed historically in the middle east, with reference to egypt.
Badran argues that both brands of womens activism are deeply entangled in their societys experience of islam as a cultural system and islamic modernism as a political reform movement. Margot badran islamic feminism s as forms of consciousness, thinking, and practice are ascendant, yet in many places they still all too often go unnoticed. Islamic feminism appeared at the time of an accelerating islamist movement, according to the iranian ziba mirhosseini who initially supported the islamic revolution in iran. Unsettling a common claim that feminism is western and dismantling the alleged opposition between feminism and islam, the book demonstrates how the egyptian feminist movement in the first half of this century both advanced the nationalist cause and worked within the parameters of islam. While her argument concerning these forms of feminism may be a running theme through the thirteen chapters of her book, badran also investigates the compatibility of islam with feminism. Secular and religious convergences by margot badran article in journal of middle east women s studies 72.
While many in the west regard feminism and islam as a contradiction in terms, many muslims in the east have perceived western feminist forces in their midst as an assault upon their culture. Between secular and islamic feminisms from chem 32697 at citrus college. Muslim womens qui et resistance to islamic fundamentalism, by faegheh shirazi. Nor is it evident that those who first used it were aware of the explosive impact that the juxtaposition of these two words was to have. In this careerspanning collection of influential essays, margot badran presents the feminisms that muslim women have created, and examines islamic and. I first met margot badran at a conference in oldenburg, germany, in 2002, where she gave a keynote address on islamic feminism. Margot badran explains that islamic feminism derives its understanding and mandate from the quran, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence. This paper draws heavily on their exchange and uses it as a starting point for further theorizing the intersections of islam and feminism to. It provides a detailed summary of the defining theories and objectives of the movement and its role in contributing to raising awareness and as an agent for change as well. Indian muslim women activists and the reform of muslim personal law1 volume 42 special double issue sylvia vatuk.
From islamic feminism to a muslim holistic feminism badran. Notes 1 badran, islamic feminism on the move, in margot badran, feminism in islam. Without careful consideration of social context and everyday decisions, a sophisticated analytical. Margot badran is a scholaractivist and specialist in gender studies in the middle east and islamic world. Feminists and islamists in egypt, in moghadam, valentine m. Islamic feminism feminism in the middle east is not a new phenomenon, it is more than a century old. As egalitarian islam gains ground it is increasingly being assailed by muslim conservatives whether they are. After providing an insight into the books main topics and ideas, an evaluation of badran s literary skills are provided to asses her credibility. Portraying a counterdiscourse 5 cific context of lebanon and present the content the women that i interviewed provide along four coordinates. Feb 01, 2009 while many in the west regard feminism and islam as a contradiction in terms, many muslims in the east have perceived western feminist forces in their midst as an assault upon their culture. Drawing upon a wide range of womens sourcesmemoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral historiesmargot badran shows how egyptian women assumed agency and in so doing subverted and refigured the.
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