secularism

The “Turkish model”: for whom?

Posted in Culture & Religion, Sexuality, The Role of the State on October 31st, 2012 by

By Pinar Ilkkaracan. In the aftermath of the Arab spring the “Turkish model” is being held out as an optimistic scenario for democratisation with an Islamic framework. In conversation with Deniz Kandiyoti, women’s rights and gender activist Pinar Ilkkaracan puts Turkey’s record under scrutiny – and finds it wanting DK: The more optimistic commentators on the […]

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Crisis in Mali: fundamentalism, women’s rights and cultural resistance

Jessica Horn. In conversation with Jessica Horn, a leading Malian women’s rights activist identifies the roots of the crisis in Mali, and the opportunistic use of the crisis by Malian and international Islamic fundamentalists to gain a popular foothold in the north of the country Jessica Horn: Were there any early warnings that this crisis […]

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Culture versus Rights Dualism: a myth or a reality?

Posted in Culture & Religion, Global Governance on October 29th, 2012 by

YAKIN ERTURK. Women’s human rights discourse and movements have become entangled within a culture-versus-rights dualism. Yakin Ertürk argues that this is a false dualism which serves both private patriarchy and public patriarchy of neo-liberal globalisation The 1990’s was a remarkable period in experiencing the unravelling of a world order that has characterised much of the […]

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Decoding the “DNA of Patriarchy” in Muslim family laws

Posted in Culture & Religion on October 24th, 2012 by

Why and how did verse 4:34, and not other verses in the Qur’an, become the foundation for the legal construction of marriage? Why areqiwamah and wilayah still the basis of gender relations in the imagination of modern-day jurists and Muslims who resist and denounce equality in marriage as alien to Islam? How can we Muslim women reconstruct the […]

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