Message to AMEWS Val Moghadam, President-Elect Amman, 21 October 2003 Dear friends and colleagues, As I write this message, I am sitting at a friend's desk in Amman, Jordan, where I have been interviewing women leaders and activists in connection with a project on globalization, transnational feminism, and women's movements in the Middle East. Next month I will be in Turkey, conducting similar interviews. I arrived in Amman the day after Shirin Ebadi of Iran was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier today, Asma Khader told me that she was being considered for a cabinet post in the new government. One of my first interviews was with Toujan Faisal, and once again I was impressed by the audacity - and eloquent clarity - of her arguments for democracy and women's rights and against government corruption and autocracy. Several days ago, my friend Taghrid Khuri suggested that we spend a couple of days visiting Damascus, and since it would be my first visit and I had some time before my next set of interviews, I readily agreed. It appears that many Jordanians travel regularly to Damascus to shop, mainly for the fine cottons and linens - produced, no doubt, by the growing number of Syrian women in the textiles and garments branch of the manufacturing sector. In addition to the mesmerizing effects of the splendid Ummayed mosque, I was intrigued by the large numbers of veiled women I saw around Damascus, many of them in heavy veiling. They shared the same pavement with young Syrian women in fashionable jeans and tops, their long hair flowing. One such woman, wearing a backpack, turned out to be from the small town of Homs and spoke perfect English. One is also struck by the presence of women in what would normally be male occupations, such as selling tickets at bus depots. I wish I could have asked Bouthaina Shaaban - former literature professor, now a spokesperson for the Syrian government - to explain these apparently contradictory patterns and trends to me. Such middle class and working class women, whether secular or religious, politically connected or grassroots, are among the "modernizing women" of the Middle East that many of us in AMEWS have been observing, living with, learning from, and writing about. In fact, a fair number of us in AMEWS come from those middle or working classes (mostly middle classes) in the Arab region, Iran, and Turkey. All of us, I am sure, visit the region with a sense of familiarity and affinity - including admiration for its rich histories and cultures, and pride in the accomplishments of its women. We are equipped with the lived experience and the acquired knowledge to argue against the tiresome "theories" (propositions, really) of civilizational clashes and absolute cultural differences. But we do so with our critical perspectives firmly in place. The critical perspectives are needed in the face of misguided or retrograde movements, draconian laws that put dissidents in prison, growing inequalities, the persistence of patriarchal gender relations, and what can only be called the new imperialism. In the summer of 2002, Algerian president Bouteflika appointed five women, two of them well known feminists, to his cabinet. But in Palestine and Iraq, Israeli and Anglo-American occupations have wreaked havoc on people's lives, destroying infrastructure and bringing new forms of insecurity to women, children, and innocent men. Whatever one thinks of the provisional government in Iraq (and it is in many respects a classic puppet government), I am sure I was not the only one deeply saddened by the assassination of Akila Hashemi. Her murder - like that other senseless act, the bombing of the UN building - was the direct consequence of the American occupation. These are only some of the issues that confront us as scholars and activists in AMEWS. We are all of us scholars, but many of us come from social movement backgrounds or are currently involved in women's movements, including transnational feminist networks such as the Women's Learning Partnership, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, and the Association of Women of the Mediterranean Region. In the recent past, under the leadership of Sondra Hale, Sherifa Zuhur, Miriam Cooke, and others, we established precedent for a more proactive stance, principally on behalf of beleaguered scholar-activists (e.g., petitions and statements regarding the imprisonments of Mehrangiz Kar, Saad eddin Ibrahim, Toujan Faisal), but also to correct misconceived ideas or initiatives (e.g., the AMEWS statement on Afghanistan, issued May 1999 as an alternative to the Feminist Majority statement). I hope that we can continue on that path, and post statements as appropriate on the AMEWS website. For nearly two years, the publications committee has been hard at work to establish a Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, and negotiations continue. At the same time, the new journal Hawwa has been founded, with Amira Sonbol as its editor-in-chief. The scope of Hawwa is wider than that envisaged for JMEWS, and no doubt many of us in AMEWS will be happy to contribute scholarly articles to both. The AMEWS Report is our principal means of communication, and also includes very substantive book reviews and short articles. In the capable hands of first Eleanor Doumato and now Jennifer Olmsted, the Report has become increasingly sophisticated. I would like to encourage all AMEWS members to submit items to the Report, and I hope that we can encourage our friends and collaborators in the Middle East and North Africa to contribute as well. It would be especially instructive, I think, to invite regular features from feminist leaders and activists in the region, especially representatives of women's organizations. We should also aspire to an increase in subscriptions to the Report, and each of us can begin with the libraries or Women's Studies programs and departments of our universities. Many of our universities, especially state-funded universities in the U.S., are facing fiscal crises, but we can perhaps draw on our political and academic leverage to expand as well as maintain subscriptions. We find ourselves in times that are both unsettling and exhilarating. Women are on the move in the Middle East and North Africa, despite assaults from within and without. We have a responsibility not only to tell their story well, but also to offer their movements our solidarity and support. Thanks to everyone dedicated enough to attend the MESA meetings in Anchorage, and to Amaney Jamal and others for having organized the AMEWS business meeting. I look forward to being in touch with old and new friends and colleagues, and to realizing our plans during the coming year and beyond. Val Moghadam   Home | About | Committees |Publications| Activities | Alerts | Pedagogy Corner || | Links | How to Join | Questions about the site? Email the webmaster.