Hermeneutics and Honor

Negotiating Female "Public" Space in Islamic/ate Societies

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by Asma Afsaruddin

Harvard University Press

Due/Published February 2000, 222 pages, paper

ISBN 0932885217

A collection of essays on women's traversal of public space in Islamic/ate societies and the ensuing process of negotiating gendered idendities. The dichotomy between private and public spheres, upheld as axiomati for most societies, has recently been challenged by scholars as an artificial construct. For women in particular, the demarcation between the two spheres has become blurred by the enourmous public consequences of their public behavior. Elaborate cultural codes of honor and traditional, masculinist interpretations of scripture have reinforces the public-private polarity and restricted Muslim women's access to the erublic realm as conventionally defined. These essays provide insight into how women from different social strata and historical periods in various Islamic/ate societies have creatively engaged with these limitations on their behavior.

A Harvard Middle Eastern Monograph