Women, Islam and Globalization in the Twenty-First Century - Hardcover

Nilgun Anadolu-Okur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1443813095 ISBN 13: 9781443813099

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

In this edited volume Dr. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur aims to communicate a constructive analysis of Muslim identity, but essentially of Muslim womanhood in the twenty-first century. Her focus is on civil, political and international human rights, family laws, honor killings, ethical and gender issues, educational opportunities, participation in civil life, modernism versus conservatism, prospects of representation and property ownership, life in gated communities, professional lives and rights of Muslim women under the Shari'a law throughout a wide range of countries where Islam is not only the established faith of the land but a principal way of life. Through a compilation of seven interdisciplinary essays, one play and an interview conducted by the playwright, this volume discloses lesser-known aspects of Muslim womanhood in Muslim countries including Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. In addition, the essays depict legal and social impediments faced by Muslims who live in France, Germany and in the United States. As an original work this volume maintains to articulate Muslim women's daily struggles, challenges, preferences and needs as they practice their rights of womanhood and motherhood at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Through an accurate analysis of Muslim women's lives ultimately a positive subtext is provided to Muslim identity, essentially to Muslim womanhood. As anything else, during the age of globalization Islam is going through a transition. Whether Islam, and Islamic law, as a set of established guidelines, is utilized to govern a Muslim society's operational modes, throughout the entire Muslim world Islam is the established faith. As a global religion Islam is expected to be practiced as a principal way of life governing different aspects in every Muslim's life. However, as expressed in this study amendments to civil and religious laws, modifications in established governmental systems, increased value of individual rights as opposed to societal norms coalesce to bring about a contemporary outlook to assessment of women's rights within Islam globally. Additionally this volume intends to articulate the concern commonly shared by various scholars that the Western mind needs to be illuminated and educated upon racially motivated Eurocentric delineations which tend to dismiss varied qualities and characteristics of Muslim women who have persevered for centuries under the unbendable rule of Muslim men in power. Henceforth this study defines the boundaries of new female Muslim identity both within and outside the Muslim world at the crossroads of globalism and the twenty-first century.

About this title

Review:

"This is certainly a timely topic, and the essays are thoughtful, carefully researched, and well-written. The bibliography will also be useful for the students of the subject."-Professor Michael McGaha, Lucille D. Griffith Professor of Modern Languages, Pomona College, Claremont, California"Nilgun Anadolu-Okur's edited volume is to be congratulated, as it casts light on the contemporary status of women in Islam. In particular, it comes timely in the present circumstance in which few studies approach Islam from both a critical and multi-disciplinary perspective. The editor is highly successful in gathering the contributors from different academic fields for various socio-cultural contexts and presenting a mosaic picture and realistic understanding of contemporary women in Islam. While each contributor approaches the common theme from a respective specialty in theology, philosophy, history, international law, sociology, anthropology, architecture and arts, all of the authors are inclusive in their depiction of Islam as a religio-political ideology, whereas globalization serves as the overarching contemporary frame affecting women in private and public spheres."-Dr. Heon C. Kim, Assistant Professor, Intellectual Heritage, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

About the Author:

Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, is an associate professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Contemporary African American Theater, Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller and Essays Interpreting the Writings of Novelist Orhan Pamuk. She has published articles on African American theater, literature, Underground Railroad, abolitionism and universal women's rights. She is the recipient of two international Fulbright awards, co-founder of Civil War and Emancipation Studies (CWEST), and a Commonwealth Speaker for Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1443813095
• ISBN 13: 9781443813099
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: Nilgun Anadolu-Okur