Course details
Name: ENGL - 230
Title: IMAGES OF MUSLIM WOMEN
Section: 01
Semester: Spring - 2020
Credits: 3
Description:
This is an introductory course meant to raise awareness and understanding about issues and questions regarding the literary and cultural work produced by women writers of Muslim background, residing within and outside of the USA. Why do some Muslim women wear the hijab? What are the similarities and differences between the hijab, the chador, the veil, the burqa? Is wearing one of these pieces of clothing a sign of cultural, religious, class or political identity? Is it a sign of “freedom of choice” or “coercion” through ideology? Are Muslim women oppressed? What does it even mean to ask such a question of geographically, culturally and socially very different groups of women? What are the sex lives of Muslim women like? How prevalent are “love” as opposed to “arranged” marriages in Muslim culture/s? Can one be a Muslim woman and a lesbian? Are all Muslim women religious? Are there feminists in the Muslim world? Or is Feminism a dirty word when it comes to Islam and women’s rights? What do Arab Muslim women have in common with their “sisters” in Pakistan, or Iran, or Turkey? Are Muslim-American women a different breed from those who live in predominantly Muslim countries? What political vision of the world do these women share, if any? We will read novels, short stories, poetry, plays, essays by Muslim women writers from Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, the USA . Literary writings of such famous writers like Nawal el Saadawi of Egypt and Assia Djebar of Algeria will be studied alongside lesser-known writers like Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi, editors of a recent anthology entitled Love Inshallah:The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women. We will also look at art work by famous visual artists Shazia Sikander (Pakistan/USA), Mona Hatoum (Palestine) and Shireen Nishat (Iran). Along with English requirements, this course also fulfills an elective for Women and Gender Studies Majors and Minors, and is a free elective for all students. Non-majors welcome!
Last updated on 2019-12-05 By
Lykidis Alexios (lykidisa)
Schedule: Tuesday,Thursday From 2:30 pm To 3:45 pm
Graduation requirements:
- Any Literature (1e)
- Post-1900 (1d)
- International Issues (3a)
- Women and Gender Studies (3c)
- World Literature (TE 6a)
Teaching Faculty: Afzal-Khan Fawzia (khanf)
Is course canceled: No