Gender in the Middle East

Banu Gökarıksel

Gender relations and spaces are central to historical and contemporary cultural and political formations in the modern Middle East. Our knowledge and imaginations of this region are also mediated through gendered representations.  In this course we will examine relationships of gender and geography in the modern Middle East.  We will question how representations of the Middle East are gendered and analyze such icons as the “veiled women” and the “terrorist men.” What are the political implications of such representations? What kinds of political projects and discourses do they enable or serve? Moving from representations to material spaces, we will investigate the ways in which colonialism, as well as anti-colonial nationalist movements, attempts to create new kinds of feminine and masculine identities and spaces.  We will then examine the implications of gendered constructions of national identity and modernity for the use of, mobility in and access to spaces of power. The topics we will discuss include the emergence femininities, masculinities and sexual identifications, social movements, and the paradoxes of Islamism, globalization, and neoliberalism in various settings including Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Through the lens of gender, we will develop a new understanding of Middle Eastern geography and politics.

Syllabus