Gender in Judaism and Islam: Common Lives, Uncommon Heritage

Published by New York University Press 2014

Gender in Judaism and Islam

Common Lives, Uncommon Heritage

Edited by: Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet and Beth S. Wenger

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479823758.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Jewish and
Islamic histories have long been interrelated. Both traditions emerged from
ancient cultures born in the Middle East and both are rooted in texts and
traditions that have often excluded women. At the same time, both groups have
recently seen a resurgence in religious orthodoxy among women, as well as
growing feminist movements that challenge traditional religious structures. In the
United States, Jews and Muslims operate as minority cultures, carving out a
place for religious and ethnic distinctiveness. The time is ripe for a volume
that explores the relationship between these two religions through the prism of
gender.

Gender in Judaism and Islam brings together
scholars working in the fields of Judaism and Islam to address a diverse range
of topics, including gendered readings of texts, legal issues in marriage and
divorce, ritual practices, and women's literary expressions
and historical experiences, along with feminist influences within the Muslim
and Jewish communities and issues affecting Jewish and Muslim women in
contemporary society. Carefully crafted, including section introductions by the
editors to highlight big picture insights offered by the contributors, the
volume focuses attention on the theoretical innovations that gender scholarship
has brought to the study of Muslim and Jewish experiences.
At a time
when Judaism and Islam are often discussed as though they were inherently at
odds, this book offers a much-needed reconsideration of the connections and
commonalties between these two traditions. It offers new insights into each of
these cultures and invites comparative perspectives that deepen our
understanding of both Islam and Judaism.

Author / Editor information

Kashani-Sabet Firoozeh :

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet is Robert I. Williams Term Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she currently serves as Director of the Middle East Center. Kashani-Sabet’s most recent book is Conceiving Citizens: Women and the Politics of Motherhood in Iran, which won the 2012 book award from the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies.Wenger Beth S. :

Beth S. Wenger is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she currently serves as Chair of the History Department. Her award-winning books include The Jewish Americans: Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America and New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise.

Reviews

While this collection of essays is most useful for those with some background on the topics, it will also appeal to scholars hoping to expand their knowledge on many different aspects of Judaism and Islam. The essays do a great job of bridging ideas of the past with those of the present, making this volume valuable for scholars of history and current cultural trends as well as for researchers in anthropology, sociology womens health, media studies, Middle East studies, legal studies, literary studies, and more.

This volume is a solid beginning to a serious scholarly treatment of the topics surrounding gender in Judaism and Islam, It fills an important gap in the scholarship and promises to open the field to further critical studies. It addresses similarities and differences in womens issues and experiences within Jewish and Islamic national, religious, and ethnic identities.

The book could be helpful for graduate students hoping to think theoretically about gender in religion and history. With its succinct and compelling introductions for each part as well as an afterword by Scott and a glossary, the book is also made highly useable for undergraduates or novices.

Deborah Dash Moore,Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History, University of Michigan:
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet and Beth S. Wenger are to be congratulated for assembling a compelling collection that illuminates a wide range of issues around gender in Judaism and Islam drawn from discussions of Muslim and Jewish law to analyses of contemporary feminism to crimes of passion and 'honor killings' in the modern Arab world. Written by eminent scholars in accessible prose, these powerful pieces carry us beyond stereotypes and politics toward mutual understanding and shared knowledge.

Beth Baron,Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, CUNY:
A long overdue volume exploring commonalities and differences among Jewish and Muslim women along with gendered aspects of their religious and cultural experiences. Path breaking in its range and scope, with outstanding chapters by leading historians in the field, this work puts Islamic and Jewish Studies into a rich dialogue. By emphasizing shared histories and intersecting paths, it delivers on its promises, opening new vistas for understanding complexities in the lives of Muslims and Jews, past and present.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: firoozeh kashani-sabet and beth s. wenger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Comparative perspectives
1. Jewish and Muslim feminist theologies in dialogue: discourses of difference Susannah Heschel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. Jewish and Islamic legal traditions: diffusions of law Amira Sonbol Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Part II. Limits of biology bodily purity and religiosity
3. Scholarly versus women’s authority in the Islamic law of menstrual purity Marion Katz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
4. Gender duality and its subversions in rabbinic law Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
5. Gender and reproductive technologies in shia Iran Soraya Tremayne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Part III. Crimes of passion: formative texts and traditions
6. Not a man: Joseph and the character of masculinity in Judaism and Islam Lori Lefkovitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
7. Dishonorable passions: law and virtue in Muslim communities Catherine Warrick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
8. Legislating the family: gender, Jewish law, and rabbinical courts in mandate Palestine Lisa Fishbayn Joffe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Part IV. Cultural depictions of Jewish and Muslim women
9. A literary perspective: domestic violence, the “woman question,” and the “Arab question” in early Zionism Andrea Siegel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
10. An autobiographical perspective: schools, jails, and cemeteries in shoshanna levy’s life story Orit Bashkin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	268
11. An artistic perspective the women of bahram beizai’s cinema Hamid Dabashi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Afterword: common ground, contested terrain Joan W. Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
About the contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: December 5, 2014
ISBN: 9781479823758