Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle East

Catalog description

The course provides an in-depth examination of key topics in recent research on the study of women, gender, and sexuality in the Middle East and an investigation of changes in the field. The course promotes theoretical, analytical, and methodological approaches that redirect understanding and research away from a legacy of essentializing norms identified with orientalism and colonialism. The course begins with a discussion of how and why women, gender, and sexuality of the Middle East became a distinct field and the challenges imposed by its origins in an era of colonial empires and missionary activism. The course examines pioneering studies in women's history and gender and sexuality and investigates some of the most recent scholarship thematically. Readings include monographs and articles from an array of locations and perspectives to provide a view of the complexity of topics and of regional, social, economic, racial/ethnic diversity, and to develop a foundation for comparative analysis. Topics include but are not limited to women, gender, orientalism, and Islam; women, gender, sexuality, and social disruption; women, gender, and sexuality in literature, art, and popular culture, contemporary feminisms and queer studies.