This article explores women’s agency in the production of handwoven rugs in both rural and urban areas of contemporary northern Iran. It examines research data through an intersectional lens to understand how various factors render subjects able or unable to apply a specific form of agency in relation to the handweaving tradition in northern Iran. This study is the result of empirical research in two villages, Sakineh-abaad and Anbarran, and two cities, Rasht and Tehran. While for one group of women weaving is incompatible with modern ideals of womanhood and provides no means of class mobility, for the other group weaving is an empowering tool and a resource for gaining economic and cultural capital. Each group of research participants shows a specific form of agency and multiple experiences of subjecthood embedded in its weaving practices.

journal article

LitStream Collection

A Palestinian Woman’s WritingsReflections on Hegemony and Resistance

Kamal, Noura

2024 Journal of Middle East Women s Studies

doi: 10.1215/15525864-11176378

Despite their success as agents in social, political, economic, and cultural spheres, Palestinian women face tremendous hardships due to Israeli occupation and the patriarchal social and political structure. One issue that the literature has not sufficiently explored is how women use various forms of art to make sense of these obstacles and navigate the struggles of daily life. By narrating the story of one Palestinian woman and her relationship with writing, this article explores Palestine women’s attempts to redefine public space and discourse while reflecting on broader questions of the relationships between art, agency, gender, and power. The article sheds light on how art can be mobilized both to navigate daily obstacles and challenge the hegemonic power of official institutions and to induce paradigm shifts within the genre of writing itself. The article argues that writing can be considered a tool both for managing everyday life and for confronting larger questions of power imbalance and enforced suffering.

journal article

LitStream Collection

Female Self-Attack and Suicide in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North and Liana Badr’s The Eye of the Mirror

Hamamra, Bilal; Mleitat, Ayman; Qabaha, Ahmad

2024 Journal of Middle East Women s Studies

doi: 10.1215/15525864-11176391

Drawing on psychoanalytic and sociocultural theories of suicide and self-harm, this article argues that Hosna’s suicide in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North (1969) and Aisha’s self-harm in Liana Badr’s The Eye of the Mirror (1994) delineate two psychological modes of the protagonists’ coping with patriarchal oppression. While Aisha’s self-harm is therapeutic and cathartic, Hosna’s suicide is revolutionary on societal levels. Although both acts stem from the destructive patriarchal practice of forced marriage, they vary in their extremity and significance. While Aisha temporarily acts out her internal distress and communicates her discontent by cutting off her hair, Hosna’s suicide embodies a feminist agenda based on self-esteem and resistance and threatens the sovereignty of the whole patriarchal structure.

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LitStream Collection

Muslim Women and Social ActivismThe #MosqueMeToo Movement

Ghafournia, Nafiseh

2024 Journal of Middle East Women s Studies

doi: 10.1215/15525864-11176404

Despite the increasing inclusion of intersections of sexual, racial, and class differences in contemporary feminist theory, there remains an omission in the scholarship in terms of exploring the intersections of religion (Islam), gender, and sexual violence. This article addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on the #MosqueMeToo movement. Using an intersectional lens, the article provides an overview of this movement from current literature as well as content analysis of a number of Twitter (now X) posts. It examines the potential, strength, and impact of the movement and explores how it provides Muslim women with an accessible way to share their lived experiences. Moreover, the article elucidates the current backlash and self-reflections in response to the movement.

journal article

LitStream Collection

Women’s Activism and New Media in the Arab World

Aouragh, Miriyam

2024 Journal of Middle East Women s Studies

doi: 10.1215/15525864-11176417

journal article

LitStream Collection

Creating the Modern Iranian Woman: Popular Culture between Two Revolutions

Şen, Gülriz

2024 Journal of Middle East Women s Studies

doi: 10.1215/15525864-11176430