Leila Ahmed
Education
- BA, MA, PhD, University of Cambridge
Profile
Leila Ahmed came to the Divinity School in 1999 as the first professor of women's studies in religion and was appointed to the Victor S. Thomas chair in 2003. Prior to her appointment at HDS, she was professor of women's studies and Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts, she was director of the women's studies program from 1992 to 1995 and director of the Near Eastern studies program from 1991 to 1992. Her latest book, A Border Passage, has been widely acclaimed. Her other publications include the books Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate and Edward William Lane: A Study of His Life and Work and of British Ideas of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century, as well as many articles, among them "Arab Culture and Writing Women's Bodies" and "Between Two Worlds: The Formation of a Turn of the Century Egyptian Feminist." Her current research and writing centers on Islam in America and issues of women and gender.
Current and Future Courses
- Contemporary Voices in Western Islam (Fall 2012)
- Readings in Arab and Muslim Autobiography in the West (Fall 2012)
- Readings in Islam and the History of Islam in the U.S. and Europe (Spring 2012)
- Religion, Gender, and Culture Colloquium: Feminist Theory and Theology (Spring 2013)
- Religion, Gender, and Politics in Transnational Perspective (Spring 2013)
- Religion, Gender, Identity - Readings in 20th Century Arab Autobiographies - Muslim, Christian, Jewish (Spring 2012)
- Themes in Feminism and Islam: From Late 19th Century Middle East to 21st Century America (Fall 2011)
- Writing Lives: Women Writing Religion (Fall 2011)
Selected Publications
- A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America (Yale University Press, 2011) Publisher page
- A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman's Journey (Penguin Books, 2000) Publisher page
- Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (Yale University Press, 1993) Publisher page
Media Expertise
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