WOMEN Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, by Saba Mahmood Princeton, NJ and Oxford, UK: Princeton University Press, 2004 xvi + 199 pages Gloss, to p 203 Refs to p 223 Index to p 233 $55 cloth; $1795 paper This book explores "the conceptual challenges that women's involvement in the Islamist movement poses to feminist theory in particular and to secular-liberal thought in general through an ethnographic account of the urban women's mosque movement that is part of the Islamic Revival in Cairo, Egypt" (p 2) However, Saba Mahmood promises more than an ethnography based on two years of fieldwork (1995-1997) She embarks on an intellectual journey of selfreflection in which she has come "to believe that a certain amount of self-scrutiny and skepticism is essential regarding the certainty of my own political commitments, when trying to understand the lives of others who do not necessarily share these commitments" (p xi) By refusing to take her own political stance as the necessary lens through which the analysis proceeds, the author opens up the possibility that "my analysis may come to complicate the vision of human flourishing that I hold most dear and which has provided the bedrock of my personal existence" (p xii) It is necessary, the author cautions as she embarks upon her inquiry, not to assume that the political position we uphold will necessarily be vindicated or provide the ground for our theoretical analysis As readers, we are invited to join her in "parochializing our assumptions, about the constitutive relationship between action and embodiment, resistance and agency, self and authority - that inform most feminist judgments from across a broad range of the political spectrum about non-liberal movements such as the women's mosque movement" (p 38) It is within that spirit that I have critiqued this book The five chapters are a running argument with and against key analytic concepts in liberal thought as these concepts have come to inform various strands of feminist theory through which non-liberal movements, such as the women's mosque movement, are analyzed Through each chapter Mahmood makes her ethnographic talk back to the normative liberal assumptions about human nature against which such a movement is held accountable "The Subject of Freedom" illustrates the different ways in which the activism of the mosque movement challenges the liberal conception of politics Mahmood analyzes the conception of self, moral agency, and politics that undergird the practices of this non-liberal movement in order to come to an understanding of the historical projects that animate it The pious subjects of the mosque movement occupy an uncomfortable place in feminist scholarship because they pursue practices and ideals embedded in a tradition that has historically accorded women a subordinate status "Topography of the Piety Movement" provides a brief sketch of the historical development against which the contemporary mosque movement has emerged and critically engages with themes within scholarship of Islamic modernism regarding such movements We sense the broad-based character of the women's mosque movement through the author's description and analysis of three of six mosques where she concentrated her fieldwork Despite the differences among the mosque groups - ranging from the poorest to the upper-middle income neighborhoods of Cairo - they all shared a concern for the increased secularization of Egyptian society and illustrate the increasing respect accorded to the da 'iya preacher/religious teacher (who undertakes da'waliterally call, summons or appeal that in the 20th century came to be associated with proselytization activity) "Women and the Da'wa" (pp 64-72) is particularly insightful, as the author juxtaposes the emergence of secular liberalism with the da'wa movement and concludes that "the modernist project of the regulation of religious sensibilities, undertaken by a range of postcolonial states (and not simply Muslim states), has elicited in its wake a variety of resistances, responses and challenges …

Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

A critique of postcolonial reason: Toward a history of the vanishing present

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International human rights institutions often rely on “naming and shaming” to promote compliance with global norms. Critics charge that such institutions are too politicized; states condemn human rights violations selectively, based on their strategic interests, while protecting friends and allies. In this view, politicization undermines shaming’s credibility and thus its effectiveness. This paper offers an alternative account of such institutions and the mechanism by which they promote human rights. We argue that interstate shaming is an inherently political exercise that operates through strategic relationships, not in spite of them. While states are less likely to criticize their friends and allies, any criticism they do offer is more influential precisely because of this pre-existing partnership. We test this argument through quantitative analysis of the most elaborate human rights mechanism in the international system: the United Nations Universal Periodic Review. We find that states are more lenient towards their strategic partners in the peer-review process. Yet when they do criticize, their recommendations are accepted more often than substantially identical recommendations emanating from other states with fewer strategic ties. Insofar as shaming disseminates powerful signals regarding political relationships between states, these interactions can be meaningful and influential, even as they remain selective and politicized.

The relational politics of shame: Evidence from the universal periodic review

Rochelle Terman ‡ Post-­‐‐Doctoral Fellow, Center for International Security & Cooperation Stanford University  Pre-­‐‐proof draft Forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly Accepted: 11 Feb 2017  Replication Materials: https://github.com/rochelleterman/worlds-­‐‐women  Abstract This article draws on the theory of gendered orientalism to examine portrayals of Mus-­‐‐ lim women in U.S. news media. I test two hypotheses concerning the quantity and sub-­‐‐ stance of coverage. First, US news coverage of women abroad is driven by confirmation bias, whereby journalists are more likely to report on women living in Muslim and Middle Eastern countries if their rights are violated, but will report on women in other societies when their rights are respected. Second, stories about Muslim women empha-­‐‐ size the theme of women’s rights violations and gender inequality, even for countries with relatively good records of women’s rights. Stories about non-­‐‐Muslim women, on the other hand, emphasize other topics. I test these hypotheses against new data from 35 years of New York Times and Washington Post reporting using novel computational methods. The results suggest that U.S. news media propagate the perception that Mus-­‐‐ lims are distinctly sexist, which in turn may shape public attitudes towards Muslims as well as policies that involve Muslims at home and abroad.

Islamophobia and Media Portrayals of Muslim Women: A Computational Text Analysis of US News Coverage

The use of the term `honor killing' has elicited strong reactions from a variety of groups for years; but the recent Aqsa Parvez and Aasiya Hassan cases have brought a renewed interest from women's rights activists, community leaders, and law enforcement to study the term and come to a consensus on its validity and usefulness, particularly in the North American and European Diaspora. While some aver that the term `honor killing' is an appropriate description of a unique and particular crime, others deem it as rather a racist and misleading phrase used to promote violent stereotypes of particular communities, particularly Muslim minorities in North America and Europe. This article works to lay the groundwork by presenting both sides of the debate over the term `honor killing' and analyzing the arguments various groups use in order to justify their particular definition of the term, and if and how they support its use in public discourse. I argue two main points: one, that `honor killing' exists as a specific form of violence against women, having particular characteristics that warrants its classification as a unique category of violence. Second, I show that while `honor killings' are recognized as such in many non-Western contexts, there is a trend among advocacy organizations in the North American and European Diaspora to avoid, ignore, or rebuke the term `honor killings' as a misleading label that is racist, xenophobic, and/or harmful to Muslim populations. This is a direct response to the misuse of the term mostly within media outlets and public discourse that serves to further marginalize Muslim and immigrant groups.

To Specify or Single Out: Should We Use the Term "Honor Killing"?

This article discusses recent critical works within the frame of what is considered a paramount concern in feminist scholarship today: How do we name and publicize acts of violence against women wi...

Islamophobia, Feminism and the Politics of Critique

The ‘woman question’ played a central role in the rhetoric and debates surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, yet the precise outcome of the woman question is still debated. While some scholars argue that the revolution has repressed women by forcing them into traditional roles, others argue that the revolution has liberated women by mobilising them in the public sphere. This article claims that the revolution tried to create a female subject who was simultaneously pious and politically active, and that the creation of this particular subjectivity exceeds and defies the categories and dichotomies of earlier scholars. To make this claim, the article utilises both an intellectual history of ‘the woman question’ and the interpretivist trends of women themselves, showing how the ideal, revolutionary Islamist women was discursively produced and enforced. This unique subjectivity gives rise to a productive tension in that women are using this new identity to act in ways that are both beyond and co...

/pdf/the-piety-of-public-participation-the-revolutionary-muslim-3l5zuq5ks3.pdf

Rochelle Terman

Papers

The relational politics of shame: Evidence from the universal periodic review

Islamophobia and Media Portrayals of Muslim Women: A Computational Text Analysis of US News Coverage

To Specify or Single Out: Should We Use the Term "Honor Killing"?

Islamophobia, Feminism and the Politics of Critique

The Piety of Public Participation: The Revolutionary Muslim Woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran