Secularism, Gender and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women's Movement

by Nadje Al-Ali

• ISBN13: 9780521780223
• ISBN10: 0521780225
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-15
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

A considerable literature has been devoted to the study of Islamic activism. By contrast, Nadje Al-Ali's book explores the anthropological and political significance of secular-oriented activism by focusing on the women's movement in Egypt. In so doing, it challenges stereotypical images of Arab women as passive victims and demonstrates how they fight for their rights and confront conservative forces. Al-Ali's book also takes issue with prevailing constructions of 'the West' and its perceived dichotomous relation to 'the East'. The argument is constructed around interviews which afford fascinating insights into the history of the women's movement in Egypt, notions about secularism and how Islamist constituencies have impacted on women's activism generally. The balance between the empirical and conceptual material is adeptly handled. The author frames her work in the context of current theoretical debates in Middle Eastern and post-colonial scholarship: while some of the ideas are complex, her lucid style means they are always comprehensible; the book will therefore appeal to students, as well as to scholars in the field.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	x
Note on transliteration	xii
List of groups, networks and organizations	xiii
List of abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(18)
Up against conceptual frameworks: post-orientalism, occidentalism and presentations of the self	19	(32)
Contextualizing the Egyptian women's movement	51	(35)
Self and generation: formative experiences of Egyptian women activists	86	(42)
Secularism: challenging neo-orientalism and `his-stories'	128	(21)
From words to deeds: priorities and projects of contemporary activists	149	(36)
A mirror of political culture in Egypt: divisions and debates among women activists	185	(31)
Conclusion: `standing on shifting ground'	216	(17)
Bibliography	233	(20)
Index	253