SLP 125C/Comparative Literature 125C

Contemporary Arab Women Writers and Issues

[  Section 1  |  Section 2  |  End  ]

Winter 2000

Khalil Barhoum

MW: 11:00 - 12:45

Office: 40-42B

Room: 40-42A

Office: (650) 723-3637

khalil@stanford.edu

WEEK ONE

Monday, January 10:

The Arab World: Introduction

Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass

• Fatima Mernissi, "Arab Women's Rights and the Muslim State in the 21st Century," in Mahnaz Afkhami's Faith and Freedom: Women's Human
• Rights in the Muslim World, pp. 33-50. (Reader)
• Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass

HOLIDAY (M.L.K. DAY)

Nawal El Saadawi, God Dies by the Nile

• Nawal El Saadawi, God Dies by the Nile
• Recommended Video: "The Making of the Arabs" (ZVC 1722)

Nawal El Saadawi, A Daughter of Isis

Video: "The Arabs: Family Ties" (ZVC 1722)

Video: "Hidden Faces" (ZVC 8313)

• Nawal El Saadawi, A Daughter of Isis
• Nawal El Saadawi, "Growing up Female in Egypt," in Elizabeth Fernea,
• Women and the Family in the Middle East, pp. 111-120.
• Interview with Nawal Sadaawi (Reader)
• Nahid Toubia, "The Social and Political Implications of Female Circumcision," in Fernea, pp. 148-164

Hanan Al-Shaykh, The Story of Zahra

Etel Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose

• Hanan Al-Shaykh, The Story of Zahra
• Etel Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose
• Maroun Baghdadi, "The Kalashnikov Generation," in Fernea, Women and
• the Family in the Middle East, pp. 169-182.
• Recommended Video: "Women from South Lebanon" (ZVC 1787)

Sahar Khalifeh, Wild Thorns

Elizabeth Fernea, Middle East Muslim Women Speak

• Sahar Khalifeh, Wild Thorns
• Elizabeth Fernea, Middle East Muslim Women Speak

Elizabeth Fernea, Middle East Muslim Women Speak

• Elizabeth Fernea, Middle East Muslim Women Speak
• Recommended Video: "Women in the Arab World" (a 3-part series) (ZVC11490)

Alifa Rifaat, Distant View of a Minaret

• Alifa Rifaat, Distant View of a Minaret, pp. 1-60
• Jamal Badawi, Gender Equity in Islam

Alifa Rifaat, Distant View of a Minaret

• Alifa Rifaat, Distant View of a Minaret, pp. 61-116
• Hoda Al-Namani, "I Remember I was a Point, I was a Circle,"
• in Fernea, Women and the Family in the Middle East, pp. 303-309.

WEEK NINE Sun-Sun (March 5-12): End-Quarter Period

Poetry

Poetry & Review

• Poetry (Reader)
• Video: "Power of the Word" (ZVC 1722)

[  Section 1  |  Section 2  |  End  ]

Course Requirements & Grade Distribution

1. Essay (6-7 pages long): discuss one major cultural (socio-religious, political, historical) theme and/or issue involving contemporary Arab women. Refer to as many works studied in this course as possible, without undue emphasis on quotes. (40%)
   (Due on Wednesday, February 16, 2000)
2. Class Presentation (to be arranged during the course), attendance, and participation. (10%)
3. Open-Book Exam. (50%):
   Final in Time Schedule:
   Thursday, March 16: 8:30-11:30 A.M.

• To serve as an introduction to the Arab world and culture for students who have little or no background on either.
• To expound the richness of Arab culture and the diversity of Arab society through an examination of literary works representing different genres of literature: i.e., novels, short stories, & poetry.
• To examine historical landmarks (i.e., struggle for independence, internal sociopolitical strife, the Arab-Israeli conflict) which have contributed to the evolution of modern Arab society and their influence on the writers of the literature discussed in the course.
• To analyze feminist literature written by Arab women writers within a proper cultural perspective, relating it to the larger context of the Arab societies' colonialist legacy and their post-colonialist struggle for liberation and self-expression.  

Required Texts
(available copies on reserve at Green/Meyer Library):

• Etel Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose
• Hanan al-Shaykh, The Story of Zahra
• Nawal El Saadawi, A Daughter of Isis
• Nawal El Saadawi, God Dies by the Nile
• Elizabeth Fernea, Middle East Muslim Women Speak
• Sahar Khalifeh, Wild Thorns
• Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass
• Alifa Rifaat, Distant View of a Minaret
• Reader (at the Bookstore): Arabic Poetry; Interview with Nawal Sadaawi;
• Fatima Mernissi's article (in Mahnaz Afkhami, Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World)

• Mahnaz Afkhami, Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World
• Mahnaz Afkhami and Erika Friedl, Muslim Women and the Politics of Participation
• Mahnaz Afkhami, Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World
• Jamal Badawi, Gender Equity in Islam
• Halim Barakat, The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State
• Elizabeth Fernea, In Search of Islamic Femibnism
• Elizabeth Fernea, Women and the Family in the Middle East
• Arthur Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East
• Nikki Keddie & Beth Baron, Women in Middle Eastern History
• Nawal El Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve
• John Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?
• Bouthaina Shaaban, Both right and Left Handed: Arab Women Talk...
• Judith Tucker, Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers
• John Obert Voll, Islam: Continuity and Change in the Modern World

Videocassettes and Films
(on Reserve at Meyer Library):

• The Arabs: Family Ties (ZVC 1722)
• Islam Today (ZVC 51)
• The Image of God (ZVC 4164 Part 3): Bill Moyers' Interviews
• The Bonds of Pride (ZVC 4164, Part 4): Bill Moyers' Interviews
• The Historic Memory (ZVC 4164, Part 2): Bill Moyers' Interviews
• The Making of the Arabs (ZVC 1722)
• Hidden Faces (ZVC 8313)
• Dreams of Hind and Camilia (ZVU 113)
• Power of the Word (ZVC 1722)
• A Veiled Revolution (ZVC 379)
• Women under Siege (ZVC 530)
• The Price of Change (ZVC 53)
• Women from South Lebanon--Zahrt al-Kindul (ZVC 1787)
• Women in the Arab World"(a 3-part series) (ZVC11490)
• Wild Flowers: Women of South Lebanon (ZVC 1787)
• Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt (ZVC 14132)
• Bab El-Oued City (ZVC 11560)
• Nasser 56 (ZVC 11569)
• Al Nakba: the Palestinian Catastrophe, 1948 (ZVC 11562)
• Through the Veil of Exile (ZVC 6654)
• Going Home (ZVC 11595)
• Tales from Arab Detroit (ZVC 8327)
• Four women of Egypt (ZVC 12393)
• Days of Democracy: Egyptian Women and 1995 Parliamentary Election (ZVC 11894)

[  Section 1  |  Section 2 |  End  ]

[ Return ]