Identity Politics And Women: Cultural Reassertions And Feminisms In International Perspective

Identity politics refers to discourses and movements organized around questions of religious, ethnic and national identity. This work focuses on political-cultural movements that are making a bid for state power, for fundamental juridical change, or for cultural hegemony. In particular, the contributors explore the relationships between culture, identity and women, providing illustrations from around the world of the compelling nature of "woman" as cultural symbol and as political pawn in male-directed power struggles. The book includes 13 case-studies spanning Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindu countries and communities.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Theoretical, comparative and historical perspectives: introduction - women and identity politics in theoretical and comparative perspective, Valentine M. Moghadam; the creation of the world we know - world economy and the recreation of gendered identities, Joan Smith; the ideal woman and the ideal society - control and autonomy in the construction identity, Hanna Papanek; women of the West imagined - the Frangi Other and the emergence of the woman question in Iran, Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi. Part 2 Country case studies: politics, Islam, and women in Kano, Northern Nigeria, Ayesha Imam; gender, religious identity and political mobilization, Sondra Hale; feminism and Muslim fundamentalism - the Tunisian and Algerian cases, Alya Baffoun; the social representation of women in Algeria's Islamist movement, Cherifa Bouatta and Dorian Cherifati-Merabtine; gender activism - feminists and Islamists in Egypt, Margot Badran; identity politics and women - fundamentalism and women in Pakistan, Khawar Mumtaz; moving away from a secular vision? - women, nation and the cultural contruction of Hindu India, Sucheta Mazumdar; identity politics and the contemporary Indian feminist movement, Radha Humar; women and fundamentalism - the case of Turkey, Binnaz Toprak; Halakha, Zionism and gender - the case of Gush Emunim, Madeleine Tress; the role, place and power of middle-class women in the Islamic republic, Shanin Gerami; paradoxical politics - gender politics among New Orthodox Jewish women in the US, Debra Renee Kaufman; women of the New Right in the US - family, feminism and politics, Rebecca E. Klatch. Part 3 Dilemmas and strategies: the preferential symbol for Islamic identity - women in Muslim personal laws, Marie-Aimelie Lucas; identity politics and women's ethnicity, Nira Yuval-Davis; international standards of equality and religious freedom - implications for the status of women.