I. Purpose of the assignment

To analyze how Islamic law dealt with issues of women and gender in a particular time and place, as portrayed in the book In the House of the Law; to assess, respond and comment on the book as a source of history on women in the Middle East.

II. The Assignment

Write a 5-7 page paper in response to the book. Note: I understand the limitations of your background and knowledge. However, I expect you to read the book carefully and thoroughly, and that the class discussions on the book will assist you in navigating some of the more difficult parts (such as foreign terms and names, etc.) Below are questions you should consider, and around which you should organize your essay. You may also raise issues and questions of your own. It is your choice which questions and points you wish to emphasize most. Please be careful to write HISTORICALLY, with the understanding that this book is about Islamic law in a particular time and place, and that it does not necessarily apply to the present.

• What was the "'Islamic' vision of a gendered social order"? (p. 36) How did Islamic law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine reflect the social mores of that particular time and place(s)?

• What were the concepts of justice as embodied in Islamic law? What do you think of these? (Assess/evaluate, taking into consideration the historical context.)

• What is your overall assessment of how the law affected women's lives in the different areas considered in this book (marriage, divorce, motherhood, sexuality)? Use the evidence in the book.

• What surprised/confounded you in this book? What would you say you learned most?

1. Audience and style:

Write this paper for an educated, well informed reader (i.e., me) who knows a great deal about the Middle East. Do not write it for a general audience. You do not need to explain broad historical themes, for example. Please avoid colloquialism and slang. This is a formal writing assignment but write in your own voice, and avoid trying to write in a style that is unnatural and complicated. Write clearly. Use specific examples and quotations from the book to prove your points.

2. Format
 

FONT: All papers are to be double-spaced, typed 12 font.

PAGING: Pages are to be NUMBERED, and STAPLED. Warning: these are pet peeves of mine. Page number one is NOT the title page.

TITLE PAGE: Do not use fancy covers. Provide a simple cover page with your name, the title of the paper, the name and number of the course, and the date.

CITATION: proper citation is required for a quote or a paraphrase. For this paper, which only uses one book, this means simply putting the author's name and the page number in parentheses: (author's name, page number). Example: As revealed in their fatwas on marriage, the muftis' "strongly promarital position" tells us something very interesting about Ottoman Syrian society (Tucker, 41). See below also re additional sources.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: If you use another source --- and I emphasize that this is NOT required or even recommended at all -- you must include a bibliography at the end of the paper. You are not to do research, but you may use readings from the class. If you do this, you need to supply the complete citations of readings we have done in class so far in the bibliography. You may also cite the authors as above.  Below is the complete bibliographic information for our reading to date (you will need to look at the schedule to figure out which readings belong to these):

Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.

Nashat, Guity and Judith E. Tucker, eds. Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock and Basima Qattan Bezirgan, eds. Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984.

Suha Sabbagh, ed. Arab Women: Between Defiance and Restraint. New York: Olive Branch Press, 1996.

SPELLING, GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION: All students in this course should have completed English 101 and 102 or the equivalent before taking this 300-level class. For this reason, there will be zero tolerance for spelling errors, zero tolerance for grammatical errors, and zero tolerance for punctuation errors. Mistakes will cost you in a lower grade. There are many sources of assistance available on campus to help you avoid errors. Use spell check. Have a friend read your paper. Bring your draft to me before handing in the final version. Go to the Write Place.

Your grade will be evaluated on:

• the quality of your insights/material presented
• clear demonstration of effort
• the quality of the writing
• the organization of the essay
• use of specific examples/quotations to back up your points
• following instructions

To get an idea of what I consider a good essay, click here. To find out about my grading criteria for essays, click here.
 

**NOTE: THERE WILL BE 0 TOLERANCE OF PLAGIARISM. ANYONE PASSING OFF OTHERS' WORDS AS THEIR OWN WILL FAIL NOT MERELY THE ASSIGNMENT BUT THE COURSE. PERIOD.

If you do not understand what constitutes plagiarism, go to the student handbook
and look it up in the section on "Academic Information" and under that, in the sub-section,  "Academic dishonesty."

If you still do not understand, ask me. When in doubt, follow this rule of thumb: if you didn't think of it, cite it.

Ask for help from me ahead of time (not the day before the assignment is due!) if you need it.