Spring 2023 Religion GU4565 section 001

Women and Islam

Call Number 17214
Day & Time
Location
M 2:10pm-4:00pm
201 80 Claremont Ave
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Aziza Shanazarova
Type SEMINAR
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

This course is a comprehensive engagement with Islamic perspectives on women with a specific focus on the debates about woman’s role and status in Muslim societies. Students will learn how historical, religious, socio-economic and political factors influence the lives and experiences of Muslim women. A variety of source materials (the foundational texts of Islam, historical and ethnographic accounts, women’s and gender studies scholarship) will serve as the framework for lectures. Students will be introduced to women’s religious lives and a variety of women’s issues as they are reported and represented in the works written by women themselves and scholars chronicling women’s religious experiences.

We will begin with an overview of the history and context of the emergence of Islam from a gendered perspective. We will explore differing interpretations of the core Islamic texts concerning women, and the relationship between men and women: who speaks about and for women in Islam? In the second part of the course we will discuss women’s religious experiences in different parts of the Muslim world. Students will examine the interrelationship between women and religion with special emphasis on the ways in which the practices of religion in women’s daily lives impact contemporary societies.  

All readings will be in English. Prior course work in Islam or women’s studies is recommended, but not required.   
 

Web Site Vergil
Department Religion
Enrollment 17 students (20 max) as of 1:06PM Thursday, March 28, 2024
Subject Religion
Number GU4565
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Campus Morningside
Section key 20231RELI4565W001