Zahira Abdin Chair for
Women’s Studies
Rationale
The last two decades have seen a tremendous growth in the field of Women Studies in the Western academy, a growth that is paralleled and reinforced in practice by the tidal global interest in the renewal of civilization/s and in socio-cultural politics. This has been attended by a resurgence in topical issue-areas entailing a redefinition of public space and by new forms of transcultural encounter and communication. In the process, the changing moral economy of vulnerable societies has profiled an unprecedented visibility of women - together with a new dynamics of gender and gendered consciousness. The upsurge of interest in Islam and in Muslim women has opportunely come to the fore in these circumstances.
Of all the traditional world religions Islam provides the most daunting challenge to globalization. In its own model of universality it assures a credible alternative to the current dominant thrust of globalization. This alternative that is more humane and more viable speaks directly to the issue areas at stake in the changing moral economy, including notably gender-related issues.
The precarious position of the Muslim world on the protracted eve of a century's renaissance leaves it hamstrung. The initiative for critical cultural encounters and self representation in controversial domains can only be taken up by women themselves.
It is for Muslim women scholars in particular to carry the burden of critical enlightenment in their communities as they seek to explore and to re-examine , to articulate and to embody, the ideals of Islam.
Muslim women need to renegotiate the substance and boundaries of the public square in their diverse localities and, beyond that, in the all-pervasive global sphere that impinges on every issue and setting.
As they do so, they will inevitably be
contributing to the emerging transcultural discourse. In imparting their vision
and will on the gender dynamics shaping the global moral economy, they will also
be reinscribing the very nature and direction of cultural modernity.
The Zahira Abdin Chair
for Women and Gender
Studies is a timely response and a practical initiative in this direction.
