Description
Book SynopsisThis volume introduces new sources for the study of the past and present life of Muslim women that challenge paradigms about the ways in which they""have been studied in the past veiled, exoticised and outside of general women's history. Amira El-Azhary Sonbol and the contributors deconstruct the past and offer fresh new perspectives.
Trade Review[This book] is important for many reasons. First, it expands our knowledge of history, not only women’s history but also Middle East history and, in a larger sense, world history. The very range of the work is an impressive antidote to the narrow, single-topic historical studies of Muslim women often seen in this century—not only in scholarly offerings but also in scope. Professor Sonbol has made a serious and intellectually vital contribution by asking authors to critically examine sources for women’s history, primary sources, from scripture and archival records to art and popular culture. I know of no other such ambitious effort. A tour de force. . . . The scholarship is sound and often new and seminal to the field. This is an important work that addresses an array of specialties: religion, documents, field work, slavery, law, education, art and architecture, and popular culture.
