CLS 116 — Beyond the Veil: Women and Social Transformation in the Middle East
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Gizem Sivri
Date(s): Sep 25—Nov 13
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—7:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $395
Refund Deadline: Sep 27
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 50
Status: Closed
Quarter: Fall
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 8 weeks
Time: 6:00—7:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 25—Nov 13
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $395
Refund Deadline: Sep 27
Instructor(s): Gizem Sivri
Enrollment Limit: 50
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Closed
The Middle East is home to rich and diverse cultures and religions that have profoundly shaped the lives of its inhabitants. But in different parts of the Middle East, traditions, politics, and power struggles have converged to create different life conditions for women and led to influential movements fighting for women’s rights.
This course examines the lives of Middle Eastern women over the past three centuries, providing insights into these cultural complexities. We will explore pivotal moments in social transformation, such as the opening of girls' schools in Afghanistan, shifts from arranged marriages to consensual unions in Turkey, the participation of women in the workforce in Egypt, and the emergence of a women's rights movement in Iran. Concurrently, we will address persistent challenges, including legal restrictions on autonomy in Saudi Arabia and honor-based violence in Syria and Iraq. Using primary sources like court records and personal letters, we will investigate cultural continuities and legal reforms, exploring advancements in women's rights such as voting and property ownership in the Middle East.
This course examines the lives of Middle Eastern women over the past three centuries, providing insights into these cultural complexities. We will explore pivotal moments in social transformation, such as the opening of girls' schools in Afghanistan, shifts from arranged marriages to consensual unions in Turkey, the participation of women in the workforce in Egypt, and the emergence of a women's rights movement in Iran. Concurrently, we will address persistent challenges, including legal restrictions on autonomy in Saudi Arabia and honor-based violence in Syria and Iraq. Using primary sources like court records and personal letters, we will investigate cultural continuities and legal reforms, exploring advancements in women's rights such as voting and property ownership in the Middle East.
Stanford Continuing Studies has lowered the tuition for this course as part of our mission to increase access to education around issues related to social justice.
GIZEM SIVRI
Visiting Scholar, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford
Gizem Sivri's primary areas of interest include Ottoman history, historical criminology, the history of prisons, legal history, and women’s and gender history in the Middle East. She taught Ottoman social, political, and legal history at LMU Munich and UC Berkeley. Her postdoctoral project centers on examining the identification and representations of Ottoman female perpetrators and narratives surrounding women’s criminal cases in late Ottoman and early republican literature and press. She is collaborating on this project with the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at the Free University of Berlin and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford. Sivri received an MA in modern Turkish history from Boğaziçi University's ATA Institute and a PhD from the Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.
Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.