The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran available in Paperback
- ISBN-10:
- 0691135479
- ISBN-13:
- 9780691135472
- Pub. Date:
- 03/29/2009
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- ISBN-10:
- 0691135479
- ISBN-13:
- 9780691135472
- Pub. Date:
- 03/29/2009
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
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Overview
Osanloo takes the reader on a journey through numerous sites where rights are being produced—including Qur'anic reading groups, Tehran's family court, and law offices—as she sheds light on the fluid and constructed nature of women's perceptions of rights. In doing so, Osanloo unravels simplistic dichotomies between so-called liberal, universal rights and insular, local culture. The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran casts light on a contemporary non-Western understanding of the meaning behind liberal rights, and raises questions about the misunderstood relationship between modernity and Islam.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780691135472 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 03/29/2009 |
| Pages: | 280 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
INTRODUCTION: Human Rights and Cultural Practice 1
CHAPTER ONE: A Genealogy of "Women's Rights" in Iran 20
CHAPTER TWO: Producing States: Women's Participation and the Dialogics of Rights 42
CHAPTER THREE: Qur'anic Meetings: "Doing the Cultural Work" 75
CHAPTER FOUR: Courting Rights: Rights Talk in Islamico-Civil Family Court 108
CHAPTER FIVE: Practice and Effect: Writing/Righting the Law 138
CHAPTER SIX: Human Rights: The Politics and Prose of Discursive Sites 166
CONCLUSION: "Women's Rights" as Exhibition at the Brink of War 200
APPENDIX: The Iranian Marriage Contract 209
Notes 211
Glossary 227
Bibliography 231
Index 251
What People are Saying About This
Struggles for women's rights in the Muslim world are too often seen as a simple conflict between Islam and modernity. Osanloo's illuminating study of postrevolutionary Iran shows how women have articulated a much richer approach to advancing their political rights. They have developed a repertoire of claims that draws simultaneously on the state's republican foundations, the ideology of Islamic government, and the discourse of international human rights. The book is a highly original and important contribution to our understanding of the politics of contemporary Iran and to global debates about the rights of women.
— Timothy Mitchell, Columbia University
Osanloo's original argument is that despite official rejection by the Islamic Republic of a discourse of rights as Western, liberal notions of rights are almost hegemonic in Iran today. Through wonderful fieldwork in Tehran's family court, lawyers' offices, and even the Islamic Human Rights Commission, she reveals how this has come about. She analyzes not only the force of the international politics of rights for a country that tied women's status to national identity, but also the surprising ways that Iran's unique system of civic-religious law has produced women with a keen sense of themselves as rights-bearing subjects. This is legal anthropology at its best and an extraordinary contribution to Middle East gender studies.
— Lila Abu-Lughod, author of "Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt"
Osanloo examines a topic of great significance: the way the Iranian legal system has developed since the revolution to incorporate both the former civil codes and the newer ideas of human rights in ways that benefit women. This will be a widely read and valuable book.
— Sally E. Merry, New York University
"Osanloo's original argument is that despite official rejection by the Islamic Republic of a discourse of rights as Western, liberal notions of rights are almost hegemonic in Iran today. Through wonderful fieldwork in Tehran's family court, lawyers' offices, and even the Islamic Human Rights Commission, she reveals how this has come about. She analyzes not only the force of the international politics of rights for a country that tied women's status to national identity, but also the surprising ways that Iran's unique system of civic-religious law has produced women with a keen sense of themselves as rights-bearing subjects. This is legal anthropology at its best and an extraordinary contribution to Middle East gender studies."—Lila Abu-Lughod, author of Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt"Struggles for women's rights in the Muslim world are too often seen as a simple conflict between Islam and modernity. Osanloo's illuminating study of postrevolutionary Iran shows how women have articulated a much richer approach to advancing their political rights. They have developed a repertoire of claims that draws simultaneously on the state's republican foundations, the ideology of Islamic government, and the discourse of international human rights. The book is a highly original and important contribution to our understanding of the politics of contemporary Iran and to global debates about the rights of women."—Timothy Mitchell, Columbia University"Osanloo examines a topic of great significance: the way the Iranian legal system has developed since the revolution to incorporate both the former civil codes and the newer ideas of human rights in ways that benefit women. This will be a widely read and valuable book."—Sally E. Merry, New York University"This engaging book is original and groundbreaking in providing analysis and understanding for one of the most talked about yet neglected areas of research in Iran, the Middle East, and the North African region. It will open new directions for further research with important practical implications for women and human rights, Islamic or otherwise."—Homa Hoodfar, Concordia University
This engaging book is original and groundbreaking in providing analysis and understanding for one of the most talked about yet neglected areas of research in Iran, the Middle East, and the North African region. It will open new directions for further research with important practical implications for women and human rights, Islamic or otherwise.
— Homa Hoodfar, Concordia University