HISU-315 : Women, Gender & Family in Islam

This is a foundational course in an emerging interdisciplinary field that takes Muslim Women' Studies for its focus. The course defines a conceptual framework for examining social questions through engaging the Qur'an as the transcendent record of revealed guidance and the Prophetic model in a moral economy postulating creation, justice, freedom and responsibility. Students will explore the women question, feminist and womanist, gender and family structure in a framework that integrates empirical and normative perspectives. Students will analyze teachings and practices of the contemporary debate on women in Islam by surfacing specific issues such as family structure, marriage, divorce, wealth and poverty; woman and modern war, slavery and sex trafficking; sexuality and spirituality; education; and social justice. Students will compare and contrast between different women's trends and movements in the modern world with special attention on African-American women movements and activism. Students will develop together a document that envisions the future of women, children and family.