Synopses & Reviews
The Arab Spring unexpectedly developed in late 2010 with peaceful protests in a number of Arab countries against long-standing, entrenched regimes, and rapid political change across the region ensued. The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East examines these revolutions and their aftermath. Noted authorities writing specifically for this volume contribute chapters focusing on countries directly or indirectly involved, illuminating the immediate and long-term impacts of the revolutions in the region and throughout the world. A thoughtful concluding chapter ties together key themes, while also delineating persistent myths and misinterpretations. This is an essential volume for students and scholars of the Middle East, as well as anyone seeking a fuller understanding of region and what may lie ahead.
Review
"The best general book on the Arab Spring so far. Covers all the ground. Makes all the necessary distinctions between the popular uprisings. And draws many useful lessons."
—Roger Owen, Harvard University
"This collection is the most comprehensive to appear since the Arab Spring erupted at the end of 2010. Part I includes contributions on Tunisia, Egypt and Libya that completed revolutions, Syria that is still undergoing one, and Saudi Arabia and Jordan that have so far managed to avoid them. Part II concentrates on the regional and international responses to the 'Arab Spring'. The collection is bookended by the editors thoughtful introductory chapter framing the topic and a perceptive concluding chapter by the historian James Gelvin. This book is highly recommended."
—Philip S. Khoury, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Review
“Every contributor here has insights to offer. I found myself re-thinking again and again what women activists created in the wake of their historic acts of political resistance. What a valuable book!”
Review
“Boldly challenging Orientalist and liberalist analyses of the Arab world, El Said, Meari, and Pratt assemble a set of brilliant interventions.”
Review
“Prescient and insightful. . . succeeds in unpicking unfounded generalizations concerning both the nature of the Arab Spring and of women's participation and resistance.”
Review
“This timely and exciting volume leaves no doubt that a gendered lens is key to understanding socio-political transformations in the Middle East.”
Review
“If you are interested in Palestinian resistance of Israeli sexual interrogation techniques and/or the post-revolutionary politics of Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia and how they have placed the body and sexuality at center stage, this book offers fresh discussions of new approaches, debates and constructions that will help you appreciate the study of old and new forms of power and their complex relations. As its title suggests, this book is a must read for anyone interested in rethinking gender in revolution and resistance.”
Review
“Complicating our understanding of the gendered genealogies and contours of resistance in the Arab world,
Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance challenges dominant periodizations of revolutions in the region, mapping a new and persuasive historiography of deeply feminist concerns. An important and original contribution to transnational, postcolonial feminist scholarship.”
Synopsis
Organized by country, a description of the 2011 revolutions in the Middle East.
Synopsis
An illuminating volume by noted experts on the Arab Spring revolutions and their impacts, both in the Middle East and around the world
Synopsis
Since the end of 2010, when a wave of mass protests and uprisings swept across the Arab world, there has been unprecedented media attention to Arab women and their role in regional political transformations. Yet, this large body of commentary and speculation has yet to culminate in a substantial study of gender roles in relation to the ‘Arab Spring, as well as often ignoring or marginalising socio-political change prior to 2011 and womens participation in it.
Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance takes an original approach to analysing the shifts in gender roles, gender relations and gender norms that have occurred as the result of what is known as the Arab Spring, rejecting essentialising and orientalist assumptions that dissolve issues of class, nationality, migration and religion which are key axes of social difference in the region.
Synopsis
Ever since the wave of uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2010, Arab women and their role in political transformations have received unprecedented media attention. The copious scrutiny and commentary, however, has yet to result in any serious study of fluctuating gender roles in the Middle East. Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance is the first book to analyze the shifts in gender roles, relations, and norms that have occurred since the Arab Spring. With chapters written by scholars and activists from the countries affected, including Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria, this is an important addition to Middle Eastern gender studies.
Synopsis
In May 2013, a small group of protesters made camp in Istanbulandrsquo;s Taksim Square, protesting the privatization of what had long been a vibrant public space. When the police responded to the demonstration with brutality, the protests exploded in size and force, quickly becoming a massive statement of opposition to the Turkish regime. This book assembles a collection of field research, data, theoretical analyses, and cross-country comparisons to show the significance of the protests both within Turkey and throughout the world.and#160;
About the Author
Mark L. Haas is associate professor in the Political Science Department and the Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He is the author of
The Clash of Ideologies and
The Ideological Origins of Great Power Politics, 17891989, and coeditor of
The Middle East and the United States (Westview Press).
David W. Lesch is professor of Middle East history and chair of the History Department at Trinity University. Dr. Lesch is the author of several books, including Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad and The New Lion of Damascus, and coeditor of The Middle East and the United States (Westview Press).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction
Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance in the Arab World
Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt
PART 1 The Malleability of Gender and Sexuality in Revolutions and Resistance
1. Reconstructing Gender in Post-revolutionary Egypt
Shereen Abouelnaga
2. Re-signifying ‘Sexual’ Colonial Power Techniques: The Experiences of Palestinian Women Political Prisoners
Lena Meari
3. A Strategic Use of Culture: Egyptian Women’s Subversion and Resignification of Gender Norms
Hala G. Sami
PART 2 The Body and Resistance
4. She Resists: Body Politics Between Radical and Subaltern
Maha El-Said
5. Framing the Female Body: Beyond Morality and Pathology?
Abeer Al-Najjar and Anoud Abusalim
6. Women’s Bodies in Post-Revolution Libya: Control and Resistance
Sahar Mediha Elnaas and Nicola Pratt
PART 3 Gender and the Construction of the Secular/Islamist Binary
7. Islamic Feminism and the Equivocation of Political Engagement: ‘Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair’
Omaima Abou-Bakr
8. Islamic and Secular Women’s Activism and Discourses in Post-uprising Tunisia
Aitemad Muhanna
Conclusion: Towards New Epistemologies and Ontologies of Gender and Socio-Political Transformation in the Arab World
Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt
About the Contributors
Index