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HDS 3947

Islamic Rules on Women: Muslim Feminists' Critique of Classical Legal Norms

Baber Johansen

Description

Muslim jurists have developed a set of rules concerning the protocol of the gaze on the female and the male body, women's and men's purity, rules on the way in which men and women are supposed to marry, to establish the affiliation of their children, to inherit, to witness before court, to participate in public life. During the course we will follow the history of these norms and the change of meaning and function that they underwent in different types of social order that were historically established in what is now called the Muslim world. We will review the colonial and post-colonial period, the reform of personal status law and of the law concerning gender relations that has taken place since the nineteenth century and the way in which modern Muslim feminist over the last twenty years has started to reinterpret the legacy of Muslim law in a way that gives it new dimensions and opens new horizons for its understanding.

Enrollment Limited: Limited to 15 (instructor's permission required)
Open to BTI Students: Yes

Course website

Scheduling

Half Course
Fall 2009
M., 11-1; and W., 10-11
Andover Hall, Room 117/Rockefeller Hall, Room 117

Relationship to Program Requirements

Program Requirement	Area / Category / Art / Designation
MTS Area(s) of Focus	Islamic Studies Religion, Literature, and Culture Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
MDiv Distribution Category/ies	Scriptural Interpretation
MDiv Art(s) of Ministry	none
ThM, pre-2007 MTS, and pre-2005 MDiv Area	Area 3
Language Course Designation(s)	n/a