IST3001-1HY-FA14 - Islam, Gender, Sexuality

Instructor: Dr. Sophia Arjana
E-mail: sshafi@iliff.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment Only

Course Schedule

* Reminder: Class posts are always due on Tuesday and Thursday -- see syllabus for details!

September 8-12: Gender Equity in the Qur’an and the Backlash

Lecture: The Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah as Authoritative Texts

Readings: Wadud (entire book), Stowasser, “The Chapter of Eve”

Discussion Forum Questions: What do Wadud and Stowasser tell us about the status of texts? How can the Qur'an and sunnah by used as tools of liberation? As instruments of oppression?

September 15-19: Marriage and Divorce

Lecture: The Marriage Contract and Temporary Marriage

Readings: Ali, Ch. 1 and 2

Discussion Forum Question: What surprised you most in this week’s readings by Ali? What types of challenges does her work present to a “liberationist” Muslim?

September 22-26: Sexual Slavery

Lecture: Slavery in Islam

Readings: Ali, Ch.3 and 4

Discussion Forum Question: How do we reconcile the dis-connect between Islamic teachings about the moral evils of greed and the practice of slavery in Muslim communities historically? How might the practice of slavery have influenced the incidence of sexual slavery?

Paper #1 Due by Noon on September 26

September 29-October 3: Hijab and Political Liberation

Lecture: Liberation Theology in Islam

Readings: Muslim Fashion and Anti-Fashion (Sections 1 and 2)

Discussion Forum Question: Is the hijab a tool of liberation, oppression, both, or neither? Is there a difference between the desire of some Muslims to control women’s bodies and the same impulse by non-Muslims to “free” Muslim women from the veil? If so, what is this difference?

October 6-10: Gender Equity and Religious Space

No Lecture/ Gathering Days

Note: Please Check Gathering Days Schedule for Days and Times. You are required to be present at both meeting days.

Readings: Ali, Ch. 6 & 7

Guest Scholar via Skype: Maryam Eskandari, Architect of Gender-Equal Mosques

Gathering Days Film: The Noble Struggle of Amina Wadud

NO Discussion Forum Question (automatic 3 points)

October 13-17: Gender Apartheid

Lecture: Islamic “Feminism” and the Veil

Readings: Lamb (all), Silvers http://laurysilvers.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/silvers-god-loves-me.pdf

Discussion Forum Question: Lamb presents a bleak picture of the lives of women in Afghanistan, which seems to have multiple causes apart from gender dynamics. Identify these causes and comment on how they are, or are not, related to Islam.

October 20-24: Islamic Sexualities

Lecture: Female and Queer Imams

Readings: Ali, Ch. 4, Ze’evi (1-98 )

Discussion Forum Question: How does the West's framing of Islam help or hinder discussions of reform and liberation in Muslim communities? How Ze'evi's text inform our understanding of the need for Islamic reform concerning sexuality?

October 27-31: Islamic Sexualities

Lecture: Pre-Modern and Modern Notions of Sexuality

Google Hang-Out Session: El-Farouk Khaki, Toronto Unity Mosque

Readings: Ali, Ch. 5, Ze’evi (99-172)

Discussion Forum Question: Ze’evi points to a radical shift between pre-modern and modern attitudes toward homosexuality. What caused this shift?

Paper #2 Due by Noon on October 31

November 3-7: Negotiating Identity

Lecture: Modern Islamic Identities

Readings: Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion (Sections 3, 4, and 5)

Discussion Forum Question: Islamic fashion presents some interesting questions concerning modesty, choice, and liberation. What are some of the ways this week’s readings help us understand the complicated nature of religious identity?

November 10-14: Identity, Islamic Dress, and Fashion

No readings

Discussion Forum Question: For the last week of class, the students choose the discussion prompt. It can relate to anything from the course that you are interested in. Email the discussion to me by November 7 ^th and I will post it online for you.

Books for the Course

Kecia Ali, Sexual Ethics & Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith and Jurisprudence

Christina Lamb, The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan

[Article] Laury Silvers, “ ‘God Loves Me’:  The Theological Content and Context of Early Pious and Sufi Women’s Sayings on Love”

http://laurysilvers.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/silvers-god-loves-me.pdf

[Chapter] Barbara Freyer Stowasser, “The Chapter of Eve”

Emma Tarlow and Annelies Moors, editors, Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion: New Perspectives from Europe and North America

Amina Wadud, Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective

Dror Ze’evi, Producing Desire: Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle East , 1500-1900

Gathering Days Film: The Noble Struggle of Amina Wadud

See Taylor Library's list of online book sellers for purchasing options.

Course Overview

Many questions surround gender and sexuality in Islam: If man and woman are morally equal in the Qur’an, how do we explain some of the issues challenging Muslim-majority societies today? More particularly, what does the act of “recovering Islam’s gender equity” look like? Who is doing this work? How was homosexuality viewed in pre-modern Islam? What caused the shift in attitudes surrounding both gender equality and sexual orientation and how do they affect individuals? Finally, what do the experiences of Muslims, both straight and queer, tell us about the ways in which gender and sexual choice are negotiated today? How do these individuals and their allies understand their positions vis-à-vis their faith?

This course is organized around Kecia Ali’s formative study, Sexual Ethics & Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith and Jurisprudence. Each chapter examines a different topic such as marriage and divorce, sexual slavery, female circumcision, gender apartheid, and sexuality. Supplementary texts from a broad range of genres, ranging from historical studies to a collection of writings on Islamic fashion, will enrich our discussions around these issues. 

Course Objectives

1. Students will acquire a basic understanding of how gender is articulated in the Qur’an.

2. Students will examine and discuss problems surrounding the construction of gender and sexuality in Muslim-majority societies.

3. Students will gain a basic familiarity with some of the ways in which Muslim-majority societies have attempted to regulate sexuality.

4. Students will be exposed to the ways in which narratives about Muslim women can be both repressive and liberating.

5. Students will cultivate a critical appreciation for the complexities involved in imposing Western concepts of gender and sexuality in non-Western milieus.

Evaluation

All assignments and due dates are listed in the syllabus and on CANVAS on the online syllabus.

Online Postings: 30%

The majority of our time together will be spent in online discussion forums. My Online and Hybrid courses are centered around discussions of the texts, which are required every week. Typically, I provide weekly feedback to each and every student, based on the posts/reflections they offer on the texts and the questions that emerge from the readings and other class resources. If you do not feel that you can post every week, you might reconsider taking this class.

You are required to post a response to the question prompt by Tuesday noon and a second response to a classmate’s posting (called a “response-post”) by Thursday noon. Each post and response-post should be a minimum of 50 words and is worth a total of 3 points.

** No late postings will be accepted except in cases of serious illness or family emergency.

Two Short Reflections of Texts: 40%

Every student will write two 3-page essays critiquing one of the texts examined in class. These are each worth 20% of your grade. You are required to cite the author(s) referenced in the paper topic using Chicago/Turabian style in footnotes.

** Assignments submitted late will result in a point deduction.

Paper #1: In the texts by Wadud and Ali, we have an idealized vision of gender equity and a historical study of how this vision has failed to be realized. Identify the central arguments in these two studies and comment on how they inform, complement, or challenge each other. [Cite Wadud and Ali in footnotes using the Chicago style]

Paper #2: Ze’evi provides a provocative reading of the ways in which Muslims viewed sexuality in the past, which is in direct opposition to the ways many modern Muslims view treat identity and preference. How do religious texts inform these readings? [Cite Ze’evi in footnotes using the Chicago style]

Gathering Days Mini-Lecture: 30%

Each student will give a brief lecture on a topic of your choice that must be related to a theme, subject or problem examined in the class. Your lecture should be 15 minutes maximum and designed to inform the rest of the class about a subject related to gender or sexuality in Islam.

Note for Students with Disabilities:

Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs. Students are encouraged to contact their assigned adviser to initiate the process of requesting accommodations. The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303.765.1146.

Policies and Services

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Degree Learning Goals