IESEG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AMNA MANZOOR International Summer Academy 2012 University of Central Punjab Global Business and Management [email protected] 1 – 30 July 2012
Ethics (Role of Women in Islam)
Paris, 16/17/19/20 July 2012 16 contact hours / 2 ECTS credits
Course Requirements
You are expected to carefully read all the readings assigned for each class and actively participate in class discussions. There will be cold calling.
Course Description:
This course will consider women and gender roles in Islam as articulated in normative religious and legal systems and as embodied during various historical periods in a range of Muslim societies. In addition to reading a number of the most important academic studies in this field, we will consider cultural materials including films and short stories that disclose Muslim practices and concepts of masculinity, femininity and gender relations. The role of women in Islam has been a source of perplexity and criticism in the eyes of the West. We will critically consider some current Western views of Muslim women as victims before reading translated Islamic texts on gender and examining evidence about women’s religious and social activities throughout Islamic history. These works include the Qur’an, legal texts, and biographies of women warriors, political leaders, religious scholars and Sufi mystics. In terms of examining embodiment in Islam, attitudes toward the body - involving sexuality, purity, segregation and seclusion - will be viewed in a comparative context. Finally, we look at Muslim women’s participation in contemporary religious and political movements worldwide, including in the West.
Islamic Tradition in History consists of a broad survey of the position of women from the point of view of history. It discusses the way in which Islamic tradition adopted practices such as veiling. Women's Work and the Islamic Tradition section looks at the fact the not only is there great diversity in the construction of the polity of the Muslim world, but there are also great socio-economic diversities. This section examines the degree to which women’s economic position can be imputed to the influence of the Islamic tradition as opposed to socio-economic factors common to the South. Current issues conclude by looking at the feminist movement in its contemporary context. It compares the trends in female political organization in Muslim and Western countries. Therefore the course examines trends towards the creation of an indigenous feminist movement manifesting itself in the growth and increasing articulation of women’s organizations both in countries such as Iran and Indonesia where the state has become Islamic and in places like Turkey where the state has suppressed the Islamic political party.
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Course Objectives:
After studying this course the students should be able to:
Learn about Muslim women’s lives in various regions and historical periods Understand religious and legal authority in Islam and its impact of the construction of gender Critically interpret and analyse information about Muslim women presented in various media such as short stories, novels, film, and academic studies--this will include understanding the background of contemporary intellectual and political movements in the Muslim World and globally, as well as academic currents such as Orientalism, feminism, and post-modernism Learn about contemporary issues impacting women and gender roles in Muslim societies
Learning Outcomes:
Students taking this course will learn to:
Identify the moral questions Distinguish between ethical and other types of values Recognize ethical considerations and values Evaluate common beliefs about ethics—especially common beliefs about the role of women in Islam Apply moral reasoning to specific situations and defend the conclusions of that reasoning Appreciate the role of ethics in social life
Teaching – Learning Methodology
Documentaries Class Discussions Directed Group Discussion Recommended Text Supplementary Texts Reading Material
Assessment and Evaluation
In class: 40% of final grade Participation: 10 % of final grade Final exam: 50 % of final grade
Calendar of Activities
Days Contents
Introduction to Course Islamic Tradition in History 1 History-Early Muslim Women L. Ahmed 1-37, 41-63, Kecia Ali 39-55 (slaves)
Women in Islamic Law Kecia Ali 1-23 (Marriage) 2 Women in Islamic Law Kecia Ali 24-38 (Divorce) Women/Gender in Islamic Law Kecia Ali 56-74 (Lawful and Unlawful Sex)
Muslim Women and Modernity L. Ahmed 127-188 Islamic Feminism and current 3 issues (s) Female Leadership and Women in L. Ahmed 189-248 Islamic Movements
Women's Work and the Islamic Tradition 4 Justice and Fairness (Management) Final Discussion
Text Books
1. Leila Ahmed Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. 2. Amina Wadud Quran and Woman 3. Fatima Mernissi Dreams of Trespass 4. Kecia Ali Sexual Ethics in Islam 5. Mohja Kahf Girl in the Tangerine Scarf 6. Leila Aboulela Minaret. 7. Ahmed Lila.1992.”Women and the Rise of Islam” and “The Transitional Age” in Women and Gender in Islam. 8. Margaret and Judith Tucker. 1999.“Introduction” in Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker (eds.), Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East. 9. Keddie Nikki.1991.Introduction:Deciphering Middle Eastern Women’s History” in Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron, ed. Women in Middle Easter History. 10. Kandiyoti Denis.1991. Islam and Patriarchy: A Comparative Perspective in Women in Middle Eastern History by Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron (eds)Yale University Press 11. Hijab Nadia.1996.”Women and Work in the Arab World” in Arab Women ed. Suha Sabbagh. 12. Amawi Abla.1996.”Women and Property Rights in Islamic World” in Arab Women ed. Suha Sabbagh. 13. Kedd Nikki and Bois Beck.1978. “Introduction” in Women in the Muslim World, ed. Nikki Keddi and Lois Beck. 14. Hegland Mary Elaine ”Gender and Religion in the Middle East and South Asia” in ed. Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker, Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East. 15. Mernissi Fatima.1996. Muslim Women and Fundamentalism. in ed. Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker, Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East. 16. Lazreg Marina.1994.”Between God and Man” in The Eloquence of Silence. 17. Badran Margot.1995.”Arab Feminist” in Feminists, Islam and Nation. 18. Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases by Manuel G. Velasquez , 6 Edition, Published by Pearson (Year: 2006)