ABSTRACT Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political ... more ABSTRACT Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political transformations received unprecedented media attention. The copious commentary, however, has yet to result in any serious study of the gender dynamics of political upheaval. Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance is the first book to analyse the interplay between moments of sociopolitical transformation, emerging subjectivities and the different modes of women’s agency in forging new gender norms in the Arab world. Written by scholars and activists from the countries affected, including Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, this is an important addition to Middle Eastern gender studies
This chapter aims to discuss the implications of the findings of the chapters presented here and ... more This chapter aims to discuss the implications of the findings of the chapters presented here and to revisit the questions that we posed at the beginning of this volume. We asked, what are the epistemological and ontological implications of considering gender and sexualities in socio-political transformations in the Arab World? To what degree do socio-political transformations and other moments of women's resistance activities represent significant ruptures in gender identities, relations and norms? How do acts of resistance affect existing perceptions of gender and sexed bodies? How do women's various modalities of agency and their gendered experiences disrupt the secular/religious dichotomy? And, what does the case of the Arab world bring to theorizing about gender in revolutions and resistance? We present some reflections on these questions, particularly through the prism of rethinking epistemologies and ontologies for the study of gender and socio-political transformation in the Arab world. Finally, we suggest some further lines of research into the gendered dimensions of socio-political transformations.
This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab Wo... more This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab World*, edited by Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt, published by Zed Books, 2015.
This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab Wo... more This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab World*, edited by Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt, published by Zed Books, 2015.
This article is based on a lecture presented at LSE. The article focuses on Egypt but there is a... more This article is based on a lecture presented at LSE. The article focuses on Egypt but there is a link at the end of the article to a recording of the LSE lecture, which also discusses Lebanon and Jordan. The article/lectures problematizes two assumptions about women’s activism and women’s rights in the Arab world. First, it attempts to expand the concept of women’s agency beyond resistance to patriarchy and to demonstrate the ways in which the subversion and resignification of gender norms were also part of a counter-hegemonic movement against the post-1967 socio-political and geopolitical order. In other words, women’s participation in radical movements embodied sociopolitical transformation, including the transformation of gender norms. In this respect, we see parallels in the emergence of mass-based women’s activism as part of revolutionary struggles after 2011. Second, it aims to problematize the notion that the West is an agent of progress with regards to women’s rights in the Arab world. Rather, as a result of geopolitical interests, Western governments have supported regimes that have clamped down on revolutionary and radical popular movements and suppressed women’s embodiments of radical femininities. Over the long term, the demise of radical, secular movements has led to a decoupling of secular women’s rights agendas from local popular projects, paving the way for their cooption and instrumentalization by authoritarian regimes and international actors and rendering secular women’s rights activists vulnerable to accusations of representing foreign agendas. Women activists face similar dangers today in the context of an ongoing counter-revolution across the Arab world. Click on the link to Jadaliyya (above) to access.
This chapter seeks to understand the challenges to the emergence of democratic governance in the ... more This chapter seeks to understand the challenges to the emergence of democratic governance in the aftermath of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution. Much political science scholarship as well as many Western politicians conceptualized the 25 January Revolution as the beginning of a transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. Yet, what emerged in the period until 30 June 2013 is a ‘grey zone’ (Carothers 2002) between democracy and authoritarianism, where the institutions of democracy existed in name (elections, constitutions, parliaments) but in reality functioned as vehicles for securing obedience to the ruling regimes of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), followed by that of the Muslim Brotherhood under former President Mohammed Morsi. This chapter argues that the challenges facing Egyptians in achieving their aims are intrinsically linked to the challenges of dismantling authoritarianism, which, in turn are related to the specific historical experiences of Egypt’s state- and nation-building processes. I build on my previous work on democracy and authoritarianism in the Arab world (Pratt 2007) in order to understand the dynamics of post-Mubarak Egypt. Within this framework, overcoming authoritarianism does not merely depend on crafting democratic institutions. I argue that there is a need to reassess the legacies of colonialism and imperialism for Egyptian identity construction and, linked to this, conceptions of citizenship, in order to open spaces for pluralism and inclusion.
This 45 min lecture was given at the CBRL, Amman, in May 2015. It draws on interviews with women ... more This 45 min lecture was given at the CBRL, Amman, in May 2015. It draws on interviews with women active in public work to explore the evolution of women's activism in relation to significant geo/political developments: 1948 war, the anti-Baghdad Treaty protests, the 1967 war and the 1970-71 'Black September'. Click on the link to Sound Cloud (above) to listen.
This short article, based on a lecture, explores the under-studied topic of women's activism in J... more This short article, based on a lecture, explores the under-studied topic of women's activism in Jordan, from independence until the end of martial law, highlighting the significance of major geo/political events for the evolution of women's activism in the Kingdom. Click on the link to 7iber.com (above) to access.
Gendered paradoxes abound in Egypt following the departure of former president Hosni Mubarak four... more Gendered paradoxes abound in Egypt following the departure of former president Hosni Mubarak four years ago. Under Mubarak, the women’s rights agenda was almost totally monopolized by the National Council for Women under the leadership of former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, whilst independent women’s organizing was severely constrained by limits on freedom of association. After the overthrow of Mubarak, women’s rights were threatened but independent women’s organizing flourished. Since July 2013, under the post-Morsi regime, advances have been made in women’s legal rights. However, independent women’s organizing is once again endangered by heavy handed control of the civic sphere.
A visit to Palestine in April has led me to reflect on Israel’s border practices and how they rel... more A visit to Palestine in April has led me to reflect on Israel’s border practices and how they relate to the performance of Israel as a settler colonial state. I have also considered whether by subjecting myself to these border practices I am contributing to the reproduction of Israel’s sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In other words, is travelling to Palestine an act of normalization of Israel’s occupation or of solidarity with Palestinians under occupation?
A number of other arguments have been put forward to delegitimize BDS, often by people who claim ... more A number of other arguments have been put forward to delegitimize BDS, often by people who claim to support Palestinian rights or peace in Israel/Palestine. Here I attempt to debunk those myths and explain why BDS in general, including the academic boycott, is a legitimate means of ensuring justice in Israel/Palestine—without which, there will never be true peace.
Since the end of 2010, when a wave of mass protests and uprisings swept across several Arab count... more Since the end of 2010, when a wave of mass protests and uprisings swept across several Arab countries, there has been unprecedented media attention on Arab women and their role in regional political transformations. Yet, this large body of commentary and speculation has tended towards dichotomous positions, representing women either as the heroines of social media and street protests or as the victims of violent and conservative backlashes. A smaller number of scholars have addressed the gendered dimensions of the political and socio-economic processes unfolding since 2011, including the revolutionary struggles, counter-revolutionary backlashes, street protests, armed uprisings and civil war. They have highlighted the complex and varied picture emerging when applying a gendered lens to political transformations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Al-Ali 2014; Hafez 2014; Kandiyoti 2013; Khalil 2014; Pratt 2013; Salime 2012; Skalli, 2013).
Can militarisation and securitisation really be reconciled with feminism? Here, I argue that sinc... more Can militarisation and securitisation really be reconciled with feminism? Here, I argue that since 9/11, feminism, or particular strands of feminism that are dominant in the West, have been increasingly instrumentalised by the US and UK governments and NATO to justify continuing military and political intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Arab World, to normalise violence against Muslim men that is illegal under international law and to even increase the “effectiveness” of counterinsurgency measures in these countries.
This article examines the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict. It... more This article examines the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict. It draws on a growing field of critical approaches to consider this question in light of a longer historical trajectory of the Zionist settler colonial project, Palestinian resistance to this project and efforts to pacify this resistance, most recently under the banner of the “Oslo Peace Process”. Therefore, the article rejects mainstream interpretations of the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict in terms of either increasing or decreasing the prospects for a negotiated, bilateral settlement based on the Oslo paradigm. Rather, the article argues that the “Arab Spring” constitutes both continuities and discontinuities in the Israel-Palestine conflict: on the one hand, Israel continues and has even intensified its project of settler colonialism; on the other hand, the “Arab Spring” has given impetus to a new movement of Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation and Palestinian dispossession that operates beyond the Oslo paradigm of liberal peacemaking. Whilst the “Arab Spring” heralds the end of the already defunct Oslo Peace Process, it simultaneously highlights the necessity for a more just approach to peace making in Israel/Palestine.
ABSTRACT Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political ... more ABSTRACT Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political transformations received unprecedented media attention. The copious commentary, however, has yet to result in any serious study of the gender dynamics of political upheaval. Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance is the first book to analyse the interplay between moments of sociopolitical transformation, emerging subjectivities and the different modes of women’s agency in forging new gender norms in the Arab world. Written by scholars and activists from the countries affected, including Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, this is an important addition to Middle Eastern gender studies
This chapter aims to discuss the implications of the findings of the chapters presented here and ... more This chapter aims to discuss the implications of the findings of the chapters presented here and to revisit the questions that we posed at the beginning of this volume. We asked, what are the epistemological and ontological implications of considering gender and sexualities in socio-political transformations in the Arab World? To what degree do socio-political transformations and other moments of women's resistance activities represent significant ruptures in gender identities, relations and norms? How do acts of resistance affect existing perceptions of gender and sexed bodies? How do women's various modalities of agency and their gendered experiences disrupt the secular/religious dichotomy? And, what does the case of the Arab world bring to theorizing about gender in revolutions and resistance? We present some reflections on these questions, particularly through the prism of rethinking epistemologies and ontologies for the study of gender and socio-political transformation in the Arab world. Finally, we suggest some further lines of research into the gendered dimensions of socio-political transformations.
This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab Wo... more This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab World*, edited by Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt, published by Zed Books, 2015.
This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab Wo... more This is a chapter from *Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance: Lessons from the Arab World*, edited by Maha El Said, Lena Meari and Nicola Pratt, published by Zed Books, 2015.
This article is based on a lecture presented at LSE. The article focuses on Egypt but there is a... more This article is based on a lecture presented at LSE. The article focuses on Egypt but there is a link at the end of the article to a recording of the LSE lecture, which also discusses Lebanon and Jordan. The article/lectures problematizes two assumptions about women’s activism and women’s rights in the Arab world. First, it attempts to expand the concept of women’s agency beyond resistance to patriarchy and to demonstrate the ways in which the subversion and resignification of gender norms were also part of a counter-hegemonic movement against the post-1967 socio-political and geopolitical order. In other words, women’s participation in radical movements embodied sociopolitical transformation, including the transformation of gender norms. In this respect, we see parallels in the emergence of mass-based women’s activism as part of revolutionary struggles after 2011. Second, it aims to problematize the notion that the West is an agent of progress with regards to women’s rights in the Arab world. Rather, as a result of geopolitical interests, Western governments have supported regimes that have clamped down on revolutionary and radical popular movements and suppressed women’s embodiments of radical femininities. Over the long term, the demise of radical, secular movements has led to a decoupling of secular women’s rights agendas from local popular projects, paving the way for their cooption and instrumentalization by authoritarian regimes and international actors and rendering secular women’s rights activists vulnerable to accusations of representing foreign agendas. Women activists face similar dangers today in the context of an ongoing counter-revolution across the Arab world. Click on the link to Jadaliyya (above) to access.
This chapter seeks to understand the challenges to the emergence of democratic governance in the ... more This chapter seeks to understand the challenges to the emergence of democratic governance in the aftermath of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution. Much political science scholarship as well as many Western politicians conceptualized the 25 January Revolution as the beginning of a transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. Yet, what emerged in the period until 30 June 2013 is a ‘grey zone’ (Carothers 2002) between democracy and authoritarianism, where the institutions of democracy existed in name (elections, constitutions, parliaments) but in reality functioned as vehicles for securing obedience to the ruling regimes of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), followed by that of the Muslim Brotherhood under former President Mohammed Morsi. This chapter argues that the challenges facing Egyptians in achieving their aims are intrinsically linked to the challenges of dismantling authoritarianism, which, in turn are related to the specific historical experiences of Egypt’s state- and nation-building processes. I build on my previous work on democracy and authoritarianism in the Arab world (Pratt 2007) in order to understand the dynamics of post-Mubarak Egypt. Within this framework, overcoming authoritarianism does not merely depend on crafting democratic institutions. I argue that there is a need to reassess the legacies of colonialism and imperialism for Egyptian identity construction and, linked to this, conceptions of citizenship, in order to open spaces for pluralism and inclusion.
This 45 min lecture was given at the CBRL, Amman, in May 2015. It draws on interviews with women ... more This 45 min lecture was given at the CBRL, Amman, in May 2015. It draws on interviews with women active in public work to explore the evolution of women's activism in relation to significant geo/political developments: 1948 war, the anti-Baghdad Treaty protests, the 1967 war and the 1970-71 'Black September'. Click on the link to Sound Cloud (above) to listen.
This short article, based on a lecture, explores the under-studied topic of women's activism in J... more This short article, based on a lecture, explores the under-studied topic of women's activism in Jordan, from independence until the end of martial law, highlighting the significance of major geo/political events for the evolution of women's activism in the Kingdom. Click on the link to 7iber.com (above) to access.
Gendered paradoxes abound in Egypt following the departure of former president Hosni Mubarak four... more Gendered paradoxes abound in Egypt following the departure of former president Hosni Mubarak four years ago. Under Mubarak, the women’s rights agenda was almost totally monopolized by the National Council for Women under the leadership of former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, whilst independent women’s organizing was severely constrained by limits on freedom of association. After the overthrow of Mubarak, women’s rights were threatened but independent women’s organizing flourished. Since July 2013, under the post-Morsi regime, advances have been made in women’s legal rights. However, independent women’s organizing is once again endangered by heavy handed control of the civic sphere.
A visit to Palestine in April has led me to reflect on Israel’s border practices and how they rel... more A visit to Palestine in April has led me to reflect on Israel’s border practices and how they relate to the performance of Israel as a settler colonial state. I have also considered whether by subjecting myself to these border practices I am contributing to the reproduction of Israel’s sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In other words, is travelling to Palestine an act of normalization of Israel’s occupation or of solidarity with Palestinians under occupation?
A number of other arguments have been put forward to delegitimize BDS, often by people who claim ... more A number of other arguments have been put forward to delegitimize BDS, often by people who claim to support Palestinian rights or peace in Israel/Palestine. Here I attempt to debunk those myths and explain why BDS in general, including the academic boycott, is a legitimate means of ensuring justice in Israel/Palestine—without which, there will never be true peace.
Since the end of 2010, when a wave of mass protests and uprisings swept across several Arab count... more Since the end of 2010, when a wave of mass protests and uprisings swept across several Arab countries, there has been unprecedented media attention on Arab women and their role in regional political transformations. Yet, this large body of commentary and speculation has tended towards dichotomous positions, representing women either as the heroines of social media and street protests or as the victims of violent and conservative backlashes. A smaller number of scholars have addressed the gendered dimensions of the political and socio-economic processes unfolding since 2011, including the revolutionary struggles, counter-revolutionary backlashes, street protests, armed uprisings and civil war. They have highlighted the complex and varied picture emerging when applying a gendered lens to political transformations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Al-Ali 2014; Hafez 2014; Kandiyoti 2013; Khalil 2014; Pratt 2013; Salime 2012; Skalli, 2013).
Can militarisation and securitisation really be reconciled with feminism? Here, I argue that sinc... more Can militarisation and securitisation really be reconciled with feminism? Here, I argue that since 9/11, feminism, or particular strands of feminism that are dominant in the West, have been increasingly instrumentalised by the US and UK governments and NATO to justify continuing military and political intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Arab World, to normalise violence against Muslim men that is illegal under international law and to even increase the “effectiveness” of counterinsurgency measures in these countries.
This article examines the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict. It... more This article examines the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict. It draws on a growing field of critical approaches to consider this question in light of a longer historical trajectory of the Zionist settler colonial project, Palestinian resistance to this project and efforts to pacify this resistance, most recently under the banner of the “Oslo Peace Process”. Therefore, the article rejects mainstream interpretations of the implications of the “Arab Spring” for the Israel-Palestine conflict in terms of either increasing or decreasing the prospects for a negotiated, bilateral settlement based on the Oslo paradigm. Rather, the article argues that the “Arab Spring” constitutes both continuities and discontinuities in the Israel-Palestine conflict: on the one hand, Israel continues and has even intensified its project of settler colonialism; on the other hand, the “Arab Spring” has given impetus to a new movement of Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation and Palestinian dispossession that operates beyond the Oslo paradigm of liberal peacemaking. Whilst the “Arab Spring” heralds the end of the already defunct Oslo Peace Process, it simultaneously highlights the necessity for a more just approach to peace making in Israel/Palestine.
This paper argues that the UN's Women, Peace and Security agenda is not an appropriate framework ... more This paper argues that the UN's Women, Peace and Security agenda is not an appropriate framework for improving women's peace and security in the Arab world. This is a paper presented at the conference 'Towards Prioritizing Women, Peace and Security in the Arab World', held in Beirut, 8-11 August 2016; organized by the Institute for the Study of Women in the Arab World at the Lebanese American University.
In the run-up to war in Iraq, the Bush administration assured the world that America's interest w... more In the run-up to war in Iraq, the Bush administration assured the world that America's interest was in liberation—especially for women. The first book to examine how Iraqi women have fared since the invasion, What Kind of Liberation? reports from the heart of the war zone with dire news of scarce resources, growing unemployment, violence, and seclusion. Moreover, the book exposes the gap between rhetoric that placed women center stage and the present reality of their diminishing roles in the "new Iraq." Based on interviews with Iraqi women's rights activists, international policy makers, and NGO workers and illustrated with photographs taken by Iraqi women, What Kind of Liberation? speaks through an astonishing array of voices. Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt correct the widespread view that the country's violence, sectarianism, and systematic erosion of women's rights come from something inherent in Muslim, Middle Eastern, or Iraqi culture. They also demonstrate how in spite of competing political agendas, Iraqi women activists are resolutely pressing to be part of the political transition, reconstruction, and shaping of the new Iraq.
Women and War in the Middle East provides a critical examination of the relationship between gend... more Women and War in the Middle East provides a critical examination of the relationship between gender and transnationalism in the context of war, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction in the Middle East. Critically examining the ways in which the actions of various local and transnational groups - including women's movements, diaspora communities, national governments, non-governmental actors and multilateral bodies - interact to both intentionally and inadvertantly shape the experiences of women in conflict situations, and determine the possibilities for women's participation in peace-building and (post)-conflict reconstruction, as well as the longer-term prospects for peace and security. The volume pays particular attention to the ways in which gender roles, relations and identities are constructed, negotiated and employed within transnational social and political fields in the conflict and post-conflict situations, and their particular consequences for women.
Contributions focus on the two countries with the longest experiences of war and conflict in the Middle East, and which have been subject to the most prominent international interventions of recent years - that is, Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Issues addressed by contributors include the impact of gender mainstreaming measures by international agencies and NGOs upon the ability of women to participate in peace-building and post-conflict resolution; the consequences for gender relations and identities of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq; and how transnational feminist movements can most effectively support peace building and women's rights in the region.
Based entirely on original empirical research. Women and War in the Middle East brings together some of the foremost scholars in the areas of feminist international relations, feminist international political economy, anthropology, sociology, history and Middle East studies.
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Papers by Nicola Pratt
Click on the link to Jadaliyya (above) to access.
Click on the link to 7iber.com (above) to access.
Click on the link to Jadaliyya (above) to access.
Click on the link to 7iber.com (above) to access.
Contributions focus on the two countries with the longest experiences of war and conflict in the Middle East, and which have been subject to the most prominent international interventions of recent years - that is, Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Issues addressed by contributors include the impact of gender mainstreaming measures by international agencies and NGOs upon the ability of women to participate in peace-building and post-conflict resolution; the consequences for gender relations and identities of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq; and how transnational feminist movements can most effectively support peace building and women's rights in the region.
Based entirely on original empirical research. Women and War in the Middle East brings together some of the foremost scholars in the areas of feminist international relations, feminist international political economy, anthropology, sociology, history and Middle East studies.