Embodying Geopolitics
Generations of Women’s Activism in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University of California Press
Published:24th Nov '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
When women took to the streets during the mass protests of the Arab Spring, the subject of feminism in the Middle East and North Africa returned to the international spotlight. In the subsequent years, countless commentators treated the region’s gender inequality as a consequence of fundamentally cultural or religious problems. In so doing, they overlooked the specifically political nature of these women’s activism. Moving beyond such culturalist accounts, this book turns to the relations of power in regional and international politics to understand women’s struggles for their rights.
Based on over a hundred extensive personal narratives from women of different generations in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, Nicola Pratt traces women’s activism from national independence through to the Arab uprisings, arguing that activist women are critical geopolitical actors. Weaving together these personal accounts with the ongoing legacies of colonialism, Embodying Geopolitics demonstrates how the production and regulation of gender is integrally bound up with the exercise and organization of geopolitical power, with consequences for women’s activism and its effects.
"A compelling portrait of women working inside, outside, and against systems of power." * Foreign Affairs *
"Pratt’s book has many strengths. The span of history it covers makes it an ambitious project, but Pratt deftly highlights the most analytically relevant features of each time period under consideration. . . . [And] leaves the reader simultaneously optimistic about the future of women’s activism in the region while also aware and wary of
the major challenges that women continue to face." * Middle East Journal *
"Groundbreaking research."
* Arab Studies Quarterly *ISBN: 9780520281752
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 25mm
Weight: 590g
328 pages