The Islam & Feminism Critical Reading Group

The Islam & Feminism Critical Reading Group is a unique opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to gender and Islam in the safe space of the University while allowing for a full exploration of various themes from a scholarly and informed position. The CRG will run from October 2024 – May 2025. Participants will be provided with a full reading list outlining core required reading and recommended texts for further exploration of areas of interest. This year the CRG is open exclusively to staff and students at the University of Leeds.

Spaces are limited so those interested are asked to register their interest and to set out briefly how participation will benefit them. Please send expressions of interest to Dr Mustapha Sheikh ([email protected]). All participants will be expected to have done the core reading in advance of each session, including readings for the first session.

You can learn more about the impact of the Islam and Feminism CRG in Hafsa Lodi's piece for Vogue Arabia: https://en.vogue.me/culture/pro-feminist-books-islam/

Seminar leader: tbc

 

Session 1: Getting to Grips with the Lingo!
Thursday 3 November 2022, 17:00 to 18:00

Seedat, F. (2013), When Islam and Feminism Converge. Muslim World, 103: 404-420

Mir-Hosseini, Z. (2011), Beyond ‘Islam’ vs ‘Feminism’. IDS Bulletin, 42:1, pp.67-77

Gonzales, M.R. & L. Medina (2019). Voices from the Ancestors. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.

Session 2: Setting the Scene: Historical Background to a Modern Debate
Thursday 1 December  2022, 17:00 to 18:00

Ahmed, L (1992). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. London; New Haven: Yale University Press

Session 3: The Qur’an
Thursday 2 February 2023, 17:00 to 18:00

Wadud, A. (1999). Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective (2nd ed,). New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ibrahim, C. (2020). Women and Gender in the Qur'an. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Session 4: The Hadith
Thursday 2 March 2023, 17:00 to 18:00

Mernissi, F. (1994). The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Session 5: Sexual Ethics and Islam
Thursday 6 April 2023, 17:00 to 18:00

Ali, K. (2006). Sexual Ethics in Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oneworld.

Session 6: Steering Clear of the Axis of Evil: Orientalism, Patriarchy, and Colonialism
Thursday 4 May 2023, 17:00 to 18:00

Barlas, Asma Engaging Islamic Feminism: Provincializing feminism as a master narrative, in Islamic Feminism: Current Narratives

Sayyid, S. (. (2015). Thinking Islamism, (re-)thinking Islam. In A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism (Critique influence change ed.). London: Zed Books. pp.31-49

Abu-Lughod, L 2003 “Orientalism” and Middle East Feminist Studies. In McCann, Carole R., and Seung-Kyung Kim. 2003. In Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global perspectives. New York: Routledge. pp203-212