The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law
Related Topics: Gender, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Society and Culture, Religion, Africa
Gender and Islam in Africa examines ways in which women in Africa are interpreting traditional Islamic concepts in order to empower themselves and their societies. African women, it argues, have promoted the ideals and practices of equality, human rights, and democracy within the framework of Islamic thought, challenging conventional conceptualizations of the religion as gender-constricted and patriarchal.
The contributors come from the fields of history, anthropology, linguistics, gender studies, religious studies, and law. Their depictions of African women's interpreting and reinterpreting of Islam go back into the nineteenth century and up to today, including analyses of how cultural media such as popular song and film can communicate new gender roles in terms of sexuality and direct examinations of religious and religiously based family law and efforts to reform them.
Upcoming Events
What People are Saying
"This book both presents new and original work and provides a glimpse at the state of the art among scholars who have a sustained commitment to an extremely difficult and contentious topic."—Barbara M. Cooper, Rutgers University
Chapter List
Preface I
Introduction: Gender and Islam in Africa—Rights, Sexuality, and Law, Margot Badran
Part I. Women Re/produce Knowledge
1 Muslim Women's Knowledge Production in the Greater Maghreb: The Example of Nana Asma'u of Northern Nigeria, Beverly B. Mack
2 Rethinking Marginality and Agency in Postcolonial Niger: A Social Biography of a Sufi Woman Scholar, Ousseina D. Alidou
3 Deconstructing Islamic Feminism: A Look at Fatima Mernissi, Raja Rhouni
4 Embodied Tafsir: South African Muslim Women Confront Gender Violence in Marriage, Sa'diyya Shaikh Part II. Re/constructing Women, Gender, and Sexuality
5 Changing Conceptions of Moral Womanhood in Somali Popular Songs, 1960–1990, Lidwien Kapteijns 6 Guidelines for the Ideal Muslim Woman: Gender Ideology and Praxis in the Tabligh Jama‘at in the Gambia, Marloes Janson
7 Titanic in Kano: Video, Gender, and Islam, Heike Behrend
8 Shari‘a Activism and Zina in Nigeria in the Era of Hudud, Margot Badran
Part III. Shari‘a, Family Law, and Activism
9 Women and Men Put Islamic Law to Their Own Use: Monogamy versus Secret Marriage in Mauritania, Corinne Fortier
10 Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Morocco: The Making of the Mudawana Reform. Julie E. Pruzan-Jørgensen
11 Family Law Reform in Mali: Contentious Debates and Elusive Outcomes, Benjamin F. Soares
12 Legal Recognition of Muslim Marriages in South Africa, Rashida Manjoo
Glossary
Contributors
Index
