Gendering Islam in the Global City

Catalog description

How does urban geography mediate the relationship between gender and religion? How is that relationship, in turn, embodied? What types of citizens and subjects are produced by different configurations of space, religion, and gender? This course will examine these questions through the lens of Muslim societies across the Middle East. Students will read foundational theories on gender, religion, and embodiment as well as cutting edge research on gender in contemporary Muslim societies, with a focus on the role of urban environments. Comparing Muslim communities across time and space, we will ask the degree to which Islam can explain different configurations of public piety and moral governance. We will closely examine how religion is used and molded by the state, capitalism, and other social institutions to produce gendered regimes and gendered subjectivities. Through fieldwork in the urban landscapes of Egypt, students will observe how configurations of the "Islamic city" have evolved. We will visit mosques, community organizations and enclaves, examining how religion and gender interact in spaces of home, work, play and governance. This course will be offered in January-Term 2026. This course will be taught in Egypt and will count as an Away J-Term course.