One of the general goals of our I+D Research project, “Interdisciplinary and Comparative Studies in Religious, (Trans)cultural, and Gendered Identities in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia and the Mediterranean” (FFI2015-63659-CP-2-2, MINECO/FEDER, UE), is to explore how religion shapes gender identities.The study of gender in Islam traditionally has been associated with women’s studies and the status of women in patriarchal societies. The earliest investigations into masculinity focused on subaltern identities (eunuchs, transvestites, homosexuals), in keeping with the original feminist agenda of challenging patriarchy. Other studies have perpetuated western stereotypes associating Muslim men with hypersexuality, violence, and, more recently, terrorism. Our workshop, “New Perspectives on Gender Studies: Islamic Masculinities Past and Present,” seeks to contribute to the emergent subfield of the “new masculinities,” which emphasizes the relational nature of gender identities and recognizes that masculine identities are not static but rather change over time and vary according to religion, ethnicity, social class, age, and sexual preference, among other factors. The four participants will explore constructions of masculinities in premodern and contemporary Islamicate societies, new configurations of Muslim masculinity resulting from transcultural contacts between Muslims and non-Muslims in an increasingly global world, and textual and visual representations of Muslim men produced in Muslim and western cultures. In approaching our subject from multiple disciplines (Religious Studies, History, Ottoman Studies, English Literature, Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Gender Studies) we seek to demonstrate the diversity of Islamic masculinities and to challenge the Orientalist and “clash of civilizations” agendas that underlie western stereotypes of Muslim men and women.

July 31, 2017

Room: 23.S05 Auditori Mercè Rodoreda, UPF, Campus Ciutadella

Programme