Margot Badran

Margot Badran is a professor of Middle Eastern history with a focus on women and gender studies. She is a well-known scholar on the topic of Islamic feminism.

Margot Badran
Born(1936-12-04)December 4, 1936
NationalityAmerican
Education
Occupation(s)Historian, professor, author
Known forGender studies, Islamic studies, Islamic feminism

Early life and education

Badran earned her BA at Trinity College Dublin, followed by her MA at Harvard University, and her PhD from the University of Oxford.[1] She also has a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.[2]

Career

Badran is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in its Middle East program.[3] She is also a senior fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.[4]

After the 1991 liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi invaders, Badran traveled around the country interviewing female resistance fighters, later remarking on the risks women were forced to take in defense of their country.[5]

In his review of Badran's 2011 book Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law, An Van Raemdonck praises Badran for her interdisciplinary approach as she "brings together the work of historians, linguists, anthropologists and scholars in the fields of area studies, gender and religion studies". He cites the extensive fieldwork and research that went into the work, along with its "in-depth knowledge of regional and historical context".[6] The journal African Studies Review praised Badran's work for providing analysis into "how women negotiate complex discursive and political terrains".[7]

Islamic feminism

Badran has done extensive research on the topic of Islamic feminism and has written numerous articles and given multiple lectures on the topic throughout the world.[8][9] Badran states that Islamic feminism is not an oxymoron because "it offers a holistic solution for women activists and/or intellectual-activists who are invested in gender justice but who are not interested in separating religion from their struggles".[10] Badran further states that Islamic feminism "derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur’an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence."[11] She also argues that Islam and feminism are not mutually exclusive.[12]

Badran has compared the efforts of women's activism in both the 1919 Egypt Revolution with Egypt's 2011 Revolution, noting how the 1919 revolution led to the beginning of the feminist movement in Egypt. However, she notes that the work done on Islamic feminism is not as widespread in Egypt as in other areas within the Middle East.[13]

Bibliography
  • Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing (written with Miriam Cooke) Indiana University Press (1990). ISBN 9780253311214
  • Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt Princeton University Press (1996). ISBN 9781400821433
  • Feminism Beyond East and West: New Gender Talk and Practice in Global Islam Global Media Publications (2007). ISBN 9788188869237
  • Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law Woodrow Wilson Center Press (2011). ISBN 9780804774819
  • Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences Oneworld Publications (2013). ISBN 9781780744476

References
  1. "Badran, Margot". Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  2. Sikand, Yoginder (15 September 2009). ""Islamic Feminism Is a Universal Discourse"". Qantara.de. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  3. González-Vázquez, Araceli (2012). "Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality and Law". Insight Turkey. 14 (1). Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  4. "Margot Badran". Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  5. Hamilton, Lynn (30 June 1991). "Telling of Kuwaiti women's resistance role". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 3-M. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  6. Raemdonck, An Van (19 February 2015). "Review of Margot Badran (ed.), Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality and Law". Religion & Gender. 5 (1): 118–120. doi:10.18352/rg.10103. S2CID 146545110. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  7. Cooper, Barbara (February 2013). "Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law ed. by Margot Badran (review)". African Studies Review. 56 (2): 211–212. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  8. "Margot Badran". Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. Sikand, Yoginder (21 September 2010). "The Future of Islamic Feminism: Interview with Margot Badran". Monthly Review. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  10. Basarudin, Azza (2005). "Re-defining Feminism/s, Re-imagining Faith? Margot Badran on Islamic Feminism" (PDF). Al-Raida. XXII (109–110): 57. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  11. Fawcett, Rachelle (28 March 2013). "The reality and future of Islamic feminism". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  12. "Islam's other half". The Guardian. 9 November 2008. Archived from the original on 4 September 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  13. "Margot Badran: the History of feminism in contemporary Egypt". ForoZorba.org. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
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