Women and gender in Middle East studies: Trends, prospects and challenges

Middle East Report

Volumn , Issue 205, 1997, Pages 27-29

  Sharoni, Simona ^a  

^a AMERICAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0005757287     PISSN: 08992851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3013091     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. A library search using "women," "gender" and "Middle East" as key words shows that almost 100 books and over 275 journal articles, including book reviews, have been published on these topics in the past decade. This number includes only English language publication and does not include contributions to edited volumes, dealing either with the Middle East or with women and gender issues in other parts of the world. Another interesting trend involves the growing number of doctoral dissertations on the topic.
2. See for example Beth Baron, "A Field Matures: Recent Literature on Women in the Middle East," Middle Eastern Studies 32/3 (July 1996), pp. 172-86.
3. During the first two decades the discourse has stressed mostly "women," and "women's studies." In the past decade, however, the word "gender" has become more central to these debates. This development has been influenced by similar trends in women's studies.
4. Elizabeth Fernea, "MESA Presidential Address, 1986," MESA Bulletin 21 (1987), p. 7.
5. Margot Badran, "The Institutionalization of Middle East Women's Studies in the United States," MESA Bulletin 22 (1988), pp. 9-18. The article was the basis of a presentation at the 1987 MESA conference as part of a panel titled "Studying Middle Eastern Women: The First Two Decades," chaired by Elizabeth Fernea. This panel, brought together participants on the 1974 MESA panel, titled "Middle East Women," also chaired by Elizabeth Fernea, in an attempt to review interim developments in Middle East women's studies.
6. Elizabeth Warnock Fernea and Basima Quattan Bezirgan, eds., Middle Eastern Women Speak (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977); Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie, eds., Women in the Muslim World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
7. Elizabeth Warnock Fernea and Basima Quattan Bezirgan, eds., Middle Eastern Women Speak (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977); Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie, eds., Women in the Muslim World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
8. Badran, ibid., p. 9.
9. Ibid, p. 11.
10. Ibid, p. 9.
11. The table reflects the total number of panels and papers on women and gender presented at MESA from 1986 through 1997. Papers on the first panel dealing with sexuality (1997 conference) were also included in this category. The table distinguishes between panels that focus solely on women and gender issues and general panels that include one or more papers on women and/or gender issues. Papers and panels were classified based on their titles. I am aware, however, that there may have been papers which addressed gender issues without stating this in the title.
12. Correspondence with Eleanor Doumato, editor of the AMEWS Review, October 26, 1997.
13. A closer examination of the profile of scholars interested in women and/or gender issues, featured in the 1996 MESA membership directory, reveals that 237 hold permanent academic positions, 118 are graduate students and 26 are professionals working in the field but not in academic institutions. Tne 1986 numbers are taken from Badran, ibid., p. 14.
14. Badran, ibid., p. 17.
15. Deniz Kandiyoti was the visiting scholar in 1993 and Hanan al-Shaykh in 1994.