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Piety, Gender, and Modernity: Anthropological Perspectives

Vak
2012-2013

Admission requirements

This course is intended primarily for students in the MA programme in Religious Studies. Other interested students should gain the lecturer’s permission to follow the course.

Description

This course offers an in-depth analysis of the relationship between piety, gender, and modernity. It consists of two parts.

In the first part, we will read and discuss Saba Mahmood’s Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Through this study of a women’s piety movement in Cairo, we will explore alternative conceptions of piety and modernity, question key assumptions in feminist and liberal thought about freedom and autonomy, and analyze the forms and role of religious arguments and bodily practices in the cultivation of the pious self.

In the second part of the course, we will further explore the relationship between piety, gender, and modernity. Building on Mahmood’s study, each student will discuss an ethnography of his or her own choice related to the theme of piety, gender, and modernity. Examples of ethnographies related to the theme of the course are:
Bonifacio, Glenda Tibe, and Vivienne S. M. Angeles (eds.). Gender, Religion, and Migration: Pathways of Integration. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2010.
Deeb, Lara. An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shici Lebanon. Princeton University Press, 2006.
Hirst, Jacqueline Suthren, and Lynn Thomas (eds.). Playing for Real: Hindu Role Models, Religion, and Gender. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Soothill, Jane E. Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: Charismatic Christianity in Ghana. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Stadler, Nurit. Yeshiva Fundamentalism: Piety, Gender, and Resistance in the Ultra-Orthodox World. New York University Press, 2009.

Course objectives

After successfully completing the course, the student is able to:

  • convey in his or her own words the content of Mahmood’s study of an Islamic piety movement and to critically discuss this study.

  • relate Mahmood’s study to his or her own field of interest and to report about it orally and in writing.

Timetable

See Time table

Mode of instruction

Tutorial

Assessment method

  • Participation in class

  • Essays

  • Presentation

Blackboard

A detailed programme of the course announcing the themes of the meetings, reading assignments, and further requirements will be available via Blackboard.

Yes, see Blackboard.

Reading list

Saba Mahmood. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-691-08695-8 (paperback).

Registration

Via uSis
In addition to the registration in uSis, students are also expected to self-enroll in blackboard.

Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply.

Contact information

N.M. Dessing

Remarks

Each student must have a copy of Mahmood’s study at the beginning of the course. The course is designed for a class of six to twelve students. If fewer than six or more than twelve students register, the course design will be adapted.