BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Reflections on Tunisian Women’s Continued Fight for Respect\, Di gnity and Rights - Focus on Women in the Labour Movement - Dr Heba El-Shaz li (George Mason University) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240507T170000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240507T180000 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/cfc72313-6d7e-4129-b49b-75e9c40f5989/ DESCRIPTION:Exact venue location: Kirdar Building of the Middle East Centr e (MEC)\, entrance at 68 Woodstock Road\, Oxford\, OX2 6JF – access to t his building is at the north side\, next to the bike rack The Boardroom is on the ground floor next to the main staircase of the hallway.\nSpeakers: \nDr Heba El-Shazli (George Mason University) LOCATION:68 Woodstock Road (MEC Boardroom)\, Woodstock Road OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/cfc72313-6d7e-4129-b49b-75e9c40f5989/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Reflections on Tunisian Women’s Continued Fight for Res pect\, Dignity and Rights - Focus on Women in the Labour Movement - Dr Heb a El-Shazli (George Mason University) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Webs of oppression’ in everyday organizing in Palestine: An Inte rsectional Feminist Analysis - Amal W Nazzal (Assistant Professor at Birz eit University\, Palestine) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240304T123000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20240304T140000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/a5bc3396-e9db-45d8-85a0-eb937ed3e846/ DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \n\nHow can we understand the multiple\, intersectin g webs of oppression that Palestinian women activists face in their everyd ay organizing? The talk is going to illuminates the context and complexity of the lived experiences of women activists in Palestine\, aiming to cont ribute to feminist perspectives on organizing and how activists’ daily p ractices and interactions ‘inhabit’ institutions\, creating\, maintain ing and transforming them. The analysis exposes a ‘simultaneity of oppre ssions’ which highlights the challenges faced by Palestinian women attem pting to organize to challenge the social structure\, within their quasi-s tate\, settler-colonized context. The talk aims to uncover multiple inters ecting inequalities produced by dominant institutional and societal struct ures\, yet experienced differently by women activists\, in an oppressed\, colonized setting. This distinctive political context\, aligned with the c ollaborative security setting with the occupier\, elucidates how violation s of the quasi-state\, colonizer and other social structures like patriarc hy and family manifest and intersect institutionally to violate and underm ine women. Dr. Nazzal challenges the singular monolithic analysis of patri archy\, revealing how different patriarchal positions towards women expose different modes of oppression\, while serving at times as a protective\, supportive system.\n\nBio: Amal Nazzal is an Assistant Professor at Birzei t University\, Palestine. She received her PhD from the University of Exet er\, looking at the relevance of Bourdieu’s theory of practice for relat ionally capturing various organizational practices\, mechanisms and dynami cs in socio-cultural organizations\, in particular social movements. Her r esearch interests include intersectionality theory\, feminist organizing\, social capital\, social networking theory and new social media in organiz ations. Her research is driven by constructing realities\, and the percept ions of agents and social actors\, through incorporating different interpr etive methods\, such as in-depth interviewing\, and participant observatio n. She is also interested in new research methods such as digital ethnogra phy and social media content analysis.\n\nSpeakers:\nAmal W Nazzal (Assist ant Professor at Birzeit University\, Palestine) LOCATION:St Antony's College (MEC Board Room)\, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/a5bc3396-e9db-45d8-85a0-eb937ed3e846/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Webs of oppression’ in everyday organizing in Palestine : An Intersectional Feminist Analysis - Amal W Nazzal (Assistant Professo r at Birzeit University\, Palestine) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:WRRS AND MENA POLITICS JOINT EVENT - Women and electoral politics in Iran and Turkey: Undemocratic structures and feminist resistance - Mona Tajali\, Associate Professor (Agnes Scott College) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231024T170000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231024T180000 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/6f28b228-aef2-48e6-b1d7-f7ce84c7a07d/ DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Advocates of women's rights have long demanded wome n’s greater access to political office\, especially the national parliam ent\, with hopes to influence policy making with feminist agendas. However \, feminist activists’ focus on electoral politics has been mixed in aut ocratic and patriarchal contexts. While some research pointed to the role of critical actors in policy making who act as feminist insiders\, others warned about the futility of such intentions in undemocratic contexts. Com paring Iran and Turkey in recent decades\, Dr. Tajali highlights the compl exities of women’s substantive representation in autocratic contexts by mapping out various forms of feminist resistance as well as state backlash and overall democratic recession. This analysis helps shed light onto the conditions that led to the recent women-led protests in Iran and Turkey.\ n\nBio: Mona Tajali is an Associate Professor of International Relations a nd Women’s\, Gender and Sexuality Studies\, Agnes Scott College\, and a visiting scholar at the Center for Democracy\, Development\, and Rule of L aw (CDDRL) at Stanford Univeristy (2023-2024). She is the author of Women ’s Political Representation in Iran and Turkey: Demanding a Seat at the Table (Edinburgh University Press 2022). Dr. Tajali is also a long-term co llaborator with transnational solidarity network\, Women Living Under Musl im Laws\, and since 2019\, serves as a member of its executive board. She is published in both academic and popular outlets\, among them\, the Middl e East Journal\, Politics & Gender\, The Conversation\, and The Washington Post. \n\nThis event is a joint event with the Oxford School of Global an d Area Studies.\nSpeakers:\nMona Tajali\, Associate Professor (Agnes Scott College) LOCATION:St Antony's College (The Investcorp Lecture Theatre)\, 62 Woodsto ck Road OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/6f28b228-aef2-48e6-b1d7-f7ce84c7a07d/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:WRRS AND MENA POLITICS JOINT EVENT - Women and electoral politics in Iran and Turkey: Undemocratic structures and feminist resistan ce - Mona Tajali\, Associate Professor (Agnes Scott College) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Deviant women: citizenship\, political participation\, and incarce ration of the secular left in post-revolutionary Iran (1979-1990) - Rosa R ahimi (University of Oxford\, Magdalene College) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231114T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231114T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/b8d4e60b-4666-4c43-bea2-4675d954ebe9/ DESCRIPTION:Biography: Rosa Rahimi recently completed her MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford\, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Before Oxford\, she earned a BA in Politics and Internat ional Relations from Trinity College\, Cambridge. \n\nAbstract: When the n ewly-consolidating Islamic Republic of Iran made the decision to execute m asses of political prisoners in the spring of 1988\, one group of prisoner s were spared execution: secular women. Instead\, using the systematic imp lementation of violent and coercive tactics\, the state sought to force th eir conversion to Islam. This historical episode provides the entry point into a broader inquiry about the significance of these women as a category of citizen in the early days of the post-revolutionary Islamic Republic. This project considers the experiences of these women through the theoreti cal framework of a feminist approach to citizenship theory and draws from seventeen field interviews with women who were active and later incarcerat ed in the 1980s. By using an intersectional approach which introduces the categories of gender\, religion\, and political affiliation\, I examine ho w these interlocking categories of woman\, secular\, and leftist contribut ed to the distinctiveness of their political experience and determined the ir status as citizens in relation to the state. In the context of the ongo ing woman-led uprising in Iran\, I argue that the centrality of women’s political participation in this current movement should not be seen as unp recedented and tied to a discrete incident. Our understanding of contempor ary Iranian politics\, gender politics\, and citizenship would do well to situate these developments within an existing and rich history of post-rev olutionary resistance exercised by those whose identities and political cl aims have challenged that which is permitted by the state.\nSpeakers:\nRos a Rahimi (University of Oxford\, Magdalene College) LOCATION:St Antony's College (MEC Boardroom)\, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/b8d4e60b-4666-4c43-bea2-4675d954ebe9/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Deviant women: citizenship\, political participation\, an d incarceration of the secular left in post-revolutionary Iran (1979-1990) - Rosa Rahimi (University of Oxford\, Magdalene College) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MEC & OSGA present - Women\, Protests\, Revolutions: Iran Uprisin g after Five Months. - Dr. Sahar Maranlou. Lecturer in Law and Socio- Leg al Studies. Essex School of Law\, Dr. Naghmeh Sohrabi. Charles (Corky) Goo dman professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University\, Dr. Pardis Asadi Zeidabadi. Researcher and Visiting Lecturer at City\, University of London DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230220T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230220T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/524f7d14-ed10-4ed9-99c3-08a75eaeeb7a/ DESCRIPTION:Close to five months have passed since the death of Mahsa (Zhi na) Amini in police custody sparked nation-wide protests in Iran. The wome n-led uprising has taken many twists and turns since. Although streets hav e been quieter in the past few weeks\, the movement's reverberations conti nue strong. This panel assesses the Woman\, Life\, Freedom movement five m onths after it started\, by asking questions about the nature of the hijab law and its perceptions\, the ties between women’s rights movements and democratisation\, and the conception of revolution in the minds of protes tors and its ramification in the real world. \n\nModerator: Maryam Alemza deh\, St.Antony's College\n\nThis workshop is jointly sponsored by the Mid dle East Centre\, St.Antony's College and Oxford School of Global and Are a Studies\nSpeakers:\nDr. Sahar Maranlou. Lecturer in Law and Socio- Legal Studies. Essex School of Law\, Dr. Naghmeh Sohrabi. Charles (Corky) Goodm an professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the C rown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University\, Dr. Pardis As adi Zeidabadi. Researcher and Visiting Lecturer at City\, University of Lo ndon LOCATION:St Antony's College (Investcorp Lecture Theatre)\, 62 Woodstock R oad OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/524f7d14-ed10-4ed9-99c3-08a75eaeeb7a/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:MEC & OSGA present - Women\, Protests\, Revolutions: Ira n Uprising after Five Months. - Dr. Sahar Maranlou. Lecturer in Law and S ocio- Legal Studies. Essex School of Law\, Dr. Naghmeh Sohrabi. Charles (C orky) Goodman professor of Middle East History and the Director for Resear ch at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University\, Dr . Pardis Asadi Zeidabadi. Researcher and Visiting Lecturer at City\, Unive rsity of London TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Match Made in Heaven: Love and Piety in Iranian Spousal Selectio n - Dr. Ramina Sotoudeh\, Nuffield College\, University of Oxford DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220601T140000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220601T151500 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ed2f94a5-3711-4f85-9414-61d9ba2d7557/ DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Love’s emergence as basis of marriage is a hallmar k of modernity. Its compatibility with religious and traditional bases of marriage\, however\, is less understood. We explore the different criteria Iranians use to select their spouse as part of a broader effort to unders tand the complex relationships between love\, religion and modernity. Love \, we argue\, does not mean the same thing to all\, and its meaning is con ditioned by the distinct historical and cultural frameworks in which it is embedded. Using a statistical technique called Latent Class Analysis\, we analyze original survey data from an original online survey of more than 2\,500 Iranians to examine these ideas. We find four distinct configuratio ns of marital selection criteria\, three of which include love. For some\, love is the sole important criteria in marital decisions\, for others lov e as a basis of marriage is tied to secularism and independence from famil ial opinions. For yet others\, love as a basis of marriage is compatible w ith both seeking a pious mate and being religiously pious oneself. For ind ividuals who adhere to traditional familial and gender norms\, love does n ot figure as an important criterion\, suggesting that patriarchal traditio nalism\, rather than religiosity may be an impediment to love-based marria ges. These classes are not only demographically distinct but have implicat ions for behavior\, including who and how they love\, whether they see God as loving\, and the practices they engage in during courtship. We situate our findings in the context of Iranian cultural history\, highlighting th e forces that shaped these diverse forms of love\, phenomenologically and institutionally.\n\nBiography: Ramina is a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fel low in Sociology at Nuffield College\, University of Oxford. Before joinin g Nuffield\, Ramina received her PhD from the Department of Sociology at P rinceton University\, and her BA in Social Research and Public Policy at N YU Abu Dhabi. Ramina’s work spans the sociology of culture\, social netw orks\, biosociology and quantitative methods. \nSpeakers:\nDr. Ramina Soto udeh\, Nuffield College\, University of Oxford LOCATION:St Antony's College (Middle East Centre Board Room\, St Antony's College & ZOOM)\, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ed2f94a5-3711-4f85-9414-61d9ba2d7557/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:A Match Made in Heaven: Love and Piety in Iranian Spousal Selection - Dr. Ramina Sotoudeh\, Nuffield College\, University of Oxford TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Threatened motherhood in the Israeli welfare state: The discourse and the practice behind the disqualification of disadvantaged women's moth erhood - Prof. Esther Hertzog (Social Anthropologist\, Zefat Academic Coll ege) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220223T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220223T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/49d0da73-77a1-4fd0-8555-a09da1523edf/ DESCRIPTION:Biography:\n\nI received my PhD in Anthropology from the Hebre w University in Jerusalem in 1991. Since then I have studied and taught va rious topics related to bureaucracy and gender in the contexts of immigrat ion\, education\, welfare\, the Holocaust and the sex trade. My current re search focuses on gender and ageism in gyms and during COVID-19.\n\nMy ong oing research on motherhood and the welfare policies started in the beginn ing of the 90s and since then I've published numerous academic and op-ed c olumns on this subject. My recent book on State Violence toward mothers an d children is based on both my research and my social activity\, supportin g mothers who struggle against the welfare and legal authorities disqualif ying their motherhood.\n\nAlso I'm involved in various feminist activities \, among which are: the founding of SHIN\, the Israeli Movement for Equal Representation of Women\, two women's parties\, the Women's Parliament\, t he young women's parliament\, as well as a few feminist coalitions. \n\n Abstract:\n\n \n\nMy talk will be based on the book I have published recen tly\, titled: "State Violence against Mothers and Children". It will descr ibe the struggles of mothers\, especially single parents\, against the wel fare and legal authorities who disqualify their motherhood.\n\nIn my talk I shall elaborate on the vulnerable situation of motherhood\, in the Israe li welfare state. I shall examine the role of state authorities\, especial ly the welfare system and the courts\, in undermining disadvantaged women' s motherhood.\n\nState authorities undermine mothers' custodial rights ove r their offspring\, especially through the discourse on 'child's wellbeing ' and 'parental capability'\, blaming mothers for physically endangering a nd neglecting their children. It will be argued that while the formal disc ourse emphasizes the value of biological motherhood\, yet in practice unde rprivileged mothers' custody over their offspring can be easily expropriat ed. Single parent mothers are a susceptible group from which babies can be taken away to adoption and their children taken to welfare institutions.\ n\nThe research on 'single parent mothers' ignores the phenomenon of expro priating disadvantaged mothers' parenthood by State authorities as well as the coercive means that are employed in the process. In my talk I shall p ropose a critical analysis of the connection between "children at risk" di scourse and disadvantaged women's motherhood.\n\nUsing a few case studies I shall try to reveal the various interests behind expropriating disadvan taged mothers' babies and children. Among these are: welfare institutions' owners and managements\, who enjoy generous State budgets\; Removing chil dren from disadvantaged mothers enables the State to refrain from transfer ring subsistence allowances for children and mothers\;\n\nMy presentation will be based on an auto-ethnographic study and social involvement of abou t 30 years\, participating in single mothers' struggles against the exprop riation of their custody over their offspring.\nSpeakers:\nProf. Esther He rtzog (Social Anthropologist\, Zefat Academic College) LOCATION:ZOOM WEBINAR TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/49d0da73-77a1-4fd0-8555-a09da1523edf/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Threatened motherhood in the Israeli welfare state: The d iscourse and the practice behind the disqualification of disadvantaged wom en's motherhood - Prof. Esther Hertzog (Social Anthropologist\, Zefat Acad emic College) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Informal Unions in MENASA: A New Form of Cohabitation? - Janet Af ary (Mellichamp Chair\, Professor of Religious Studies\, University of Cal ifornia Santa Barbara)\, Roger Friedland (Dept of Sociology\, University o f California Santa Barbara) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220202T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20220202T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/f9fac91a-162c-450f-92d9-cc9279405813/ DESCRIPTION:Biography:\n\nJanet Afary holds the Mellichamp Chair in Global Religion and Modernity at the University of California\, Santa Barbara\, where she is a Professor of Religious Studies. Afary is a historian of mo dern Iran and has a PhD in History and Near East Studies from the Universi ty of Michigan\, where her dissertation received the Distinguished Rackham Dissertation Award. Previously she taught at the Department of History an d the Program in Women’s Studies at Purdue University\, where she was ap pointed a University Faculty Scholar. Her books include: Sexual Politics i n Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press\, 2009\, winner of the British S ociety for Middle East Studies Annual Book Prize)\; The Iranian Constituti onal Revolution: Grassroots Democracy\, Social Democracy\, and the Origins of Feminism (Columbia University Press\, 1996\, winner of Dehkhoda Instit ute Book Awardj\; and (with Kevin B. Anderson) Foucault and the Iranian Re volution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (University of Chicago Pre ss\, 2005\, winner of the Latifeh Yarshater Book Award for Iranian Women ’s Studies)\; (with John R. Perry) Charand-o Parand: Revolutionary Satir e in Iran (Yale University Press\, 2016\, Honorable Mention Lois Roth Pers ian Translation Prize)\, and more recently the edited volume (with Jesilyn Faust) Iranian Romance in the Digital Age: From Arranged Marriage to Whit e Marriage (Bloomsbury Press\, 2021). \n\n \n\nAbstract of talk: \n\nInfo rmal marriage\, a form of common law marriage\, has long been an acceptabl e social practice in some parts of the Muslim world. These unions come und er different names and are subject to different set of practices compared to formal marriage (nekah daem). They have historically taken place betwee n an older man of means and a much younger impoverished woman\, and were t hus closer to legal concubinage. In recent decades the nature of these in formal unions has changed in both the Shi’i and Sunni world. The unions are now more loving relationships between people of similar age\, with col lege education\, who for a variety of reasons are not ready or able to ent er into formal marriages. Our Facebook survey of more than 10\,000 Muslim respondents allowed us to examine the nature of over four hundred such in formal marriages. Our findings suggest that among a certain segment of t he population who are connected to the internet\, the traditional gendered order of matrimony is breaking down. Non-formal marriage\, long taken as a marker of female subordination is being modernized in the interests of w omen and men. Impoverished engaged couples who want to marry but whose fam ilies cannot afford the expenses of a formal wedding resort to informal un ions. For women – particularly those who were married before\, this is a way to legitimately cohabitate without the asymmetrical order of formal marriage and having to face the possibility of another divorce. For men wh o have never been married\, this is a way to avoid the extensive financial obligations of a formal marriage and the cost of potential divorce. Overa ll\, we are witnessing the growth of more fragile marital relations and a weakening of the parent’s role in arranging the marriage of their child ren.\nSpeakers:\nJanet Afary (Mellichamp Chair\, Professor of Religious St udies\, University of California Santa Barbara)\, Roger Friedland (Dept of Sociology\, University of California Santa Barbara) LOCATION:ZOOM WEBINAR TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/f9fac91a-162c-450f-92d9-cc9279405813/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Informal Unions in MENASA: A New Form of Cohabitation? - Janet Afary (Mellichamp Chair\, Professor of Religious Studies\, Universi ty of California Santa Barbara)\, Roger Friedland (Dept of Sociology\, Uni versity of California Santa Barbara) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Social Change through Presence: White Marriage in Iran - Dr Maral Sahebjame (Near and Middle Eastern Studies\, University of Washington) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211117T160000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211117T170000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/9baeda87-9e0c-44df-a667-523f20ce52ac/ DESCRIPTION:Maral Sahebjame\, is a graduate student in the Interdisciplina ry Near and Middle Eastern Studies PhD program and a graduate fellow in th e Department of Law\, Societies\, and Justice at the University of Washing ton. My research focus and interests include gender in the Middle East and Muslim-majority societies\, ethnography\, social movements\, and state\, law\, and society relations in contemporary Iran. Her dissertation title i s: “Marriage across the Color Spectrum: Making Commitment Palatable in I ran.”\n\nAbstract for Talk:\n\nIn 2014\, a Tehran-based women’s magazi ne published a report on “white marriage” (local term for cohabitation ) and was temporarily banned for its alleged promotion of white marriage a s the office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei condemned it for bei ng shameful and contradictory to Islamic values. Since then\, academics ac ross the country have held town halls\, clerics have made official comment s\, and health officials have expressed their concerns for the rise in whi te marriages. As new generations of Iranians re-articulate their desires a nd expectations in intimate partner relationships\, they force state and l egal actors to re-think contemporary forms of marriage and re-examine the legal code and system. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork in Iran\, th is talk examines white marriage through the lens of academics\, psychologi sts\, clerical actors\, legal actors\, and those who are engaged in white marriages. In so doing\, it finds that through their everyday practices an d their “power of presence\,” those engaged in white marriages rewrite gender and marriage norms while participating in a social non-movement th at effects social change.\nSpeakers:\nDr Maral Sahebjame (Near and Middle Eastern Studies\, University of Washington) LOCATION:ZOOM Online Webinar TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/9baeda87-9e0c-44df-a667-523f20ce52ac/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Social Change through Presence: White Marriage in Iran - Dr Maral Sahebjame (Near and Middle Eastern Studies\, University of Washin gton) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Exclusion and Resistance: The Betrayal of the Afghan Peace Process - Lina Tori Jan (St. Antony’s College | Master of Public Policy\, Blava tnik School of Government) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211027T140000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211027T150000 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/24ee95d3-49b4-46f1-a6ab-76fabb702a93/ DESCRIPTION:Lina Tori Jan is a social entrepreneur\, public speaker\, and advocate for equality and human rights\, with a focus on the rights of wom en\, girls\, and refugees. Shaped by her experiences as a Hazara woman rai sed in Kabul and as a survivor of violence\, Lina has worked with companie s\, NGOs\, and governments\, assisting in their efforts to create a more j ust society. Through roles with the International Rescue Committee\, the C ommonwealth of Virginia\, and Women for Women International\, she has held and taught literacy classes for Afghan women and girls\, assisted newly a rrived refugees and immigrants with cultural adjustment\, served the forme rly incarcerated through restoring their civil rights\, and conducted rese arch to help those fleeing persecution and violence. Lina is the Founder a nd Director of Chai wa Dastan\, an award-winning initiative aimed at shari ng stories and lessons of empowerment\, resilience\, and leadership\, thro ugh the revitalization of the oral tradition of storytelling. She also ser ves as a Cultural Expertise Advisor on the Interim Board for Team America Relief—an organization that assists in the evacuation of vulnerable peop le from Afghanistan—and serves as a GSR Fellow with the Global Situation Room\, where her work focuses on supporting efforts to end child marriage and FGM. Lina holds a B.A. in Leadership Studies and Political Science fr om the University of Richmond and will soon receive a Master of Public Pol icy from the University of Oxford.\n\nBiography: Lina Tori Jan is a social entrepreneur\, public speaker\, and advocate for equality and human right s\, with a focus on the rights of women\, girls\, and refugees. Shaped by her experiences as a Hazara woman raised in Kabul and as a survivor of vio lence\, Lina has worked with companies\, NGOs\, and governments\, assistin g in their efforts to create a more just society. Through roles with the I nternational Rescue Committee\, the Commonwealth of Virginia\, Women for W omen International\, and the Oxford Centre for Ethics\, Law\, and Armed Co nflict (ELAC)\, she has held and taught literacy classes for Afghan women and girls\, assisted newly arrived refugees and immigrants with cultural a djustment\, served the formerly incarcerated through restoring their civil rights\, and conducted research to help those fleeing persecution and vio lence. Lina is the Founder and Director of Chai wa Dastan\, an award-winni ng initiative aimed at sharing stories and lessons of empowerment\, resili ence\, and leadership\, through the revitalization of the oral tradition o f storytelling. She also serves as a Cultural Expertise Advisor on the Int erim Board for Team America Relief—an organization that assists in the e vacuation of vulnerable people from Afghanistan—and serves as a GSR Fell ow with the Global Situation Room. Lina holds a B.A. in Leadership Studies and Political Science from the University of Richmond and will soon recei ve a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford. Lina and her w ork have been featured by numerous media organizations\, including the BBC \, ABC\, CBS\, NPR\, and NBC’s The Today Show.\n\nAbstract:\n\nThe signi ng of the peace agreement between the United States and the Islamic Emirat e of Afghanistan in February 2020 excluded major stakeholders from the neg otiations\, including Afghan women\, minority/marginalized groups\, and th e Ashraf Ghani government. While the international community turned a blin d eye to the concerns of these stakeholders\, many\, though primarily wome n and minority groups\, foreshadowed a deadly cost to this peace agreement . Unfortunately\, these concerns were manifested upon the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021\, leading to a major humanitarian crisis in the country and the forced displacement of millions internally and thousa nds externally. One of the major groups who had the most at risk was Afgha n women. While the situation led to a brain drain as many educated women f led the regime\, the Afghan women's resistance movement\, in which thousan ds took to the streets\, showed that the women of Afghanistan are not the same as they were twenty years ago and will demand their rights from their oppressors—even if the cost is heavy. Many Afghans and people around th e world have been encouraged by the Afghan women's bravery. While it is no t clear where this movement will go and how long it will persist\, it has demonstrated that the Taliban cannot oppress the Afghan women in the same way as they did in the late 1990s and early 2000s. On the other hand\, we have also seen women on the Taliban’s side take on the streets and claim that they seek a society within the Taliban framework of Islam. In this t alk\, Lina Tori Jan\, who grew up during the first Taliban regime as a mem ber of the persecuted Hazara ethnic minority\, shares her views on the abo ve points based on both her research background and personal experience\, while weaving in some of the lessons she learned through assisting her fam ily to escape from Kabul this past August.\n\nRegistration essential: htt ps://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ASpvcbMQSGO8EkgFxSNlUA\nSpeakers: \nLina Tori Jan (St. Antony’s College | Master of Public Policy\, Blavat nik School of Government) LOCATION:ZOOM Online Webinar TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/24ee95d3-49b4-46f1-a6ab-76fabb702a93/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Exclusion and Resistance: The Betrayal of the Afghan Peac e Process - Lina Tori Jan (St. Antony’s College | Master of Public Polic y\, Blavatnik School of Government) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Women's Rights on The Altar of a Strategic Stake: The New Populati on Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran - Professor Marie Ladier-Fouladi ((CNRS)/CETOBaC) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210512T140000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210512T151500 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/f1dab469-645b-40f9-bdbf-8946cb2f3263/ DESCRIPTION:Bio:\n\nMarie Ladier-Fouladi is a senior Researcher at the Fre nch National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)/ CETOBaC (Centre d’É tudes Turques\, Ottomanes\, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques) and professor of Political Sociology and Population Studies at the École des Hautes Ét udes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.\n\nMarie Ladier-Fouladi earne d her Ph.D. in Demography and Social Sciences from the EHESS (École des H autes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - Paris) in 1999 and entered CNRS (Natio nal Center for Scientific Research) in 2000. In 2012\, she earned her full Professorship (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches -HDR) in Demography and Social Sciences. The title of her HDR’s dissertation was: “Unders tanding the Socio-Political Change Through the Prism of Demography”. In October 2019\, she joined the Centre for Turkish\, Ottoman\, Balkan and Ce ntral Asian Studies (CETOBaC).\n\nHer research investigates the relationsh ip between demographic changes and socio-political transformations\, espec ially relying on the case of Iran. This approach consists in analyzing dem ographic phenomena by putting them in relation to their context\, in the h istorical\, social\, economic\, and political perspective. It is from this reflection on the relationship between demography and politics\, and the perspectives they open up to understand social behaviors that she has defi ned her methodological approach. She has conducted several research projec ts on women and youth as new protagonists of political change in Iran\, fa mily and solidarity networks\, social policy\, immigration policy\, politi cal elections and population’s political horizon in Iran. She recently s tarted working on a new research program entitled: From Global to Local: T he Disturbing Future of the Islamic Republic of Iran.\n\nAbstract: \n\nIn 2010\, the Iranian government reversed the neo-Malthusian policy it had in troduced in December 1989\, and opted for a new population policy that I w ill define as populationist. It consisted in deploying all possible means to reach a target population of 150 million\, within an unspecified timefr ame though. The supreme leader\, Ali Khamenei\, fully endorsed this policy \, and in May 2014\, for the sake of speeding up the process\, he drew up a strategic program in a 14-article decree\, called “Population General Policies”\, which sanctioned the state’s new population policy\, and i nstructed the legislative\, the executive\, and the judiciary powers to im plement it.\nGrounded in the alleged threat of population aging due to bir th control and declining fertility\, the new population policy aims to acc elerate population growth by reversing the downward trend in fertility. Th ere is no doubt that the process of population aging has started in Iran\, but not to the extent that this demographic evolution may justify the imp lementation of incentive\, coercive and particularly aggressive measures i n order to entice Iranian people into having more children. While\, by rea ppropriating their fertility\, Iranian women succeeded in coming out of “the male sphere of domination” and thus reaching dignity and equality \, they again find themselves subject to injunctions that violate their re productive health rights and thereby their human rights.\nI first shed lig ht on the actual yet concealed objective of the new population policy of t he Islamic Republic of Iran. The examination of coercive as well as incen tives measures shall then evidence the detrimental effect of this new poli cy on Iranian women's rights.\n\nSpeakers:\nProfessor Marie Ladier-Fouladi ((CNRS)/CETOBaC) LOCATION:ZOOM WEBINAR TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/f1dab469-645b-40f9-bdbf-8946cb2f3263/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Women's Rights on The Altar of a Strategic Stake: The New Population Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran - Professor Marie Ladie r-Fouladi ((CNRS)/CETOBaC) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Debating the Law\, Creating Gender - Professor Irene Schneider ((G eorg-August-Universität Göttingen)) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210224T140000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210224T153000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/b4cd7c30-77ab-44a7-a1d9-4d2fd512a3da/ DESCRIPTION:Irene Schneider is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies. Sh e received her PhD from Tuebingen University in 1989 and published her Dis sertation under the title "Das Bild des Richters in der adab al-qadi-Liter atur". In 1996 she finished her habilitation at the University of Cologne with a Study published under the title "Kinderverkauf und Schuldknechtscha ft. Untersuchungen zur frühen Phase des islamischen Rechts" (English shor t version in the article: Freedom and Slavery in Early Islamic Time (1st / 7th and 2nd /8th centuries)\, in: al-Qantara. 28. 2007\, S. 353-382). In 2 008 she turned down the offer of the Chair "Islamic Studies and Gender Stu dies" at the University of Zurich and in 2014 the offer of the Sharjah Cha ir of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter/UK.\n\nFurther biography details avaliable here: Prof. Dr. Irene Schneider - Georg-August-Universi tät Göttingen (uni-goettingen.de)\n\nAbstract: Irene Schneider: "Debatin g the Law\, Creating Gender“ My book strived to break new ground in main ly four research areas. 1. First\, by observing legal iterations/debates ( Benhabib 2003) in connection with the construction of gender roles in a Mu slim state for a period of more than seven years (2012–2018)\, the quest ion was asked why these iterations partly lead to “jurisgenerative” re sults\, i.e. to “lawmaking” and partly failed to do so. The aim was to understand how these iterations developed in Palestinian society and “w ho belled the cat\,” i.e.\, who steered these iterations successfully an d how some discourses became dominant while others did not. Research so fa r had most often considered only short-term developments leading to reform s\, ignoring long-term developments and discourses that ended without succ ess. 2. Second\, the research combined the analysis of the dominant discou rses in these iterations between 2012 and 2018 – khulʿ in the first pha se (2012–2014) and the question of how international law can be brought into harmony with national law in the second phase (2014–2018) – on th e socio-legal level with an in-depth linguistic analysis based on Kosellec k’s Begriffsgeschichte and the approach of translating from the “globa l” to the “local.” This linguistic analysis proved essential in unde rstanding the shifts in these iterations as well as the social power strug gle behind these shifts. 3. Third\, the concentration on university teachi ng as part of iterations\, especially when combined with an analysis of th e textbook and the actual teaching process has revealed a deeper understan ding of intellectual discourses in Palestine in a section of the public sp here\, i.e.\, the universities\, which has been ignored so far. It is stil l a surprisingly underresearched area taking into consideration that it is in universities that the future elite – in this case future lawyers\, j udges\, and scholars – are trained. The question\, whether they are well -enough equipped with the existing education to take up the task of harmon izing international law with national law based on Islamic legal terminolo gy must be seriously asked. 4. Fourth\, because of the political situation especially since 2007\, there has been more research on the West Bank tha n on Gaza and research most often concentrated on one area or the other bu t was not combined and compared as is done in this book. Especially the re search focus on Gaza lead to surprising results in comparison with West Ba nk iterations.\n\nREGISTRATION ESSENTIAL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/836335 58389?pwd=eTFwbkVlcVYvUXFrTEp0aEFhdk84QT09\nSpeakers:\nProfessor Irene Sch neider ((Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)) LOCATION:ZOOM Online Webinar TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/b4cd7c30-77ab-44a7-a1d9-4d2fd512a3da/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Debating the Law\, Creating Gender - Professor Irene Schn eider ((Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Qatari Women and the Labour Market- Towards an Empowering Alternat ive - Dr. Mawahib Abubakr (Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Et hics) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210203T140000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210203T153000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/d49782b5-64ce-4cbc-86d5-90e6d93b36dd/ DESCRIPTION:Qatari Women and the Labour Market- Towards an Empowering Alte rnative This paper provides analysis of the feminization of labour and elu cidate the contradictory factors affect women’s contribution to the labo ur market with special reference to Qatari women. The labour market in Qat ar reflects not only the economic growth\, immigration\, education levels and state policies but also\, gender disparity. The results of the Labour Force Sample Survey for Q2\,2016 conducted by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics\, indicate that the economic participation rate of Qataris reached 52.3% of the total Qatari population aged 15 years and ab ove\, with 68.4% for Qatari males and 36.8 % for Qatari females of the tot al Qatari labour force. Despite the formal recognition of women’s rights and the benefits\, women’s inequality is labour market is still prevale nt. Most Qatari female workers works in the field of education and in gove rnmental offices. This is mainly attributed to the conservative work envir onment in such places that respect the culture of segregation of Qatari so ciety. The Qatari Muslim society is highly patriarchal like other societie s in the Arab and Muslim world. Men enjoy a dominant position in social li fe and have controlled both processes of accessibility of resources and po litical decision making. As per the report of the planning council 2005\; Qatari women are better educated than Qatari men however\, the number of Q atari males outnumbered the number of Qatari women in the labour force. Th is paper examines how the social construction of gender relations have imp acted the women’s participation in the labour market. Indeed\, the right s to education\, work and political participation have allowed women to in stil considerable change in the gender relations however\, women are “ca ught” between becoming “modern” and maintaining their traditional va lues and culture as prescribed by their society. I argue that the question is not only to find a place for women in the labour market but how this m ale dominated\, and gender insensitive market can be modified and adapted to allow women to comfortably join. What is important is to go beyond desc riptive analysis and numbers to investigate the impacts of the tension bet ween traditions and modernity on women and how these women aspire for an a lternative empowering space in the labour market.\n\nMawahib Abubakr’s r esearch interests are\; nationalism\, transnationalism\, globalization\, w omen’s activism and ethics and gender. She holds a PhD in Women’s\, G ender and Feminist Studies from York University\, Toronto\; an MA in Devel opment Studies from the Institute of Social Studies\, The Netherlands\; an d a BA (Hons) in political science from University of Khartoum\, Republic of Sudan. She has also studied community development and community capaci ty building at the Institute in Management and Community Development at Co ncordia University\, Montreal\, Canada. During her studies she was success ful in winning several academic awards and grants\, such as the African Fe llowship at the American University in Cairo\; the Ethel Armstrong Award i n Women’s Studies\, York University\; and a grant from Council for the D evelopment of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Mawahib has w orked as teaching and research staff at the Department of Political Scienc e\, University of Khartoum\, and York University. Currently\, she is the R esearch Program Manager at the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics\, College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.\nSpe akers:\nDr. Mawahib Abubakr (Research Center for Islamic Legislation and E thics) LOCATION:Registration essential TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/d49782b5-64ce-4cbc-86d5-90e6d93b36dd/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Qatari Women and the Labour Market- Towards an Empowering Alternative - Dr. Mawahib Abubakr (Research Center for Islamic Legislati on and Ethics) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Feminists in the eyes of God: theories and practices of queer Musl im women in Britain - Dr Benjamin Dubrulle (Maison Française d'Oxford) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20201118T140000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20201118T153000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/8907cec8-ecbb-4d39-87a5-65d3e97f55bc/ DESCRIPTION:‘God Does not Discriminate’: Inclusive Mosques Politics in France and the United Kingdom\n\nIn the last ten years\, mosques welcomin g believers regardless of their gender and sexuality have been established in France and the United Kingdom. Known as ‘inclusive mosques’\, thes e spaces are managed by both heterosexual and queer women who aim at pract icing Islam outside of patriarchal constraints. Based on recent ethnograph ic data\, this seminar will explore the different forms of pastoral care p rovided by Muslim women in these spaces for their community.\n\nIslamic fe minism is a major component of pastoral care in the British context. Throu gh various events -monthly feminist discussion groups\, Jumma\, conference s- queer Muslim women in the United Kingdom produce and share religious kn owledge relevant to their experiences and struggles. Taking into account t heir specific vulnerability enables them to design relevant emancipatory p ractices. In France\, a new inclusive mosque reclaims the French tradition of laïcité. Staying away from identity politics enables these women to focus on the universal values of justice in Islam.\n\nDespite material and spiritual obstacles that will be examined\, these women seek to fight exi sting discriminations within local communities through radical inclusivity . Their theological work based on the Quran aims at promoting gender justi ce and recognition of sexual diversity. Ultimately\, these projects seek t o protect the local community against both queer-phobia and islamophobia\, and unify the oumma.\n\nBio: \n\nBenjamin Dubrulle is currently a PhD can didate in sociology at the EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sci ences) in Paris\, under the supervision of Dr. Céline Béraud. He is also a member of the CéSor (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences of Religion ) at the CNRS and is currently in residency at the Maison Française d’O xford. Benjamin Dubrulle is a member of the Jewish-Muslim Research Network .\n\nHis research is situated at the intersection of social sciences of re ligion\, gender studies and queer studies. It focuses on initiatives desig ned by Muslim communities to promote gender equality and sexual diversity within an Islamic framework. Dubrulle has a particular interest in democra cy and secularism\, and the way politics impact lived experiences of Musli m minorities on the ground.\n\nZOOM REGISTRATION LINK: https://us02web.zoo m.us/webinar/register/WN_9UnRIm-mQ9udutR8Wz1K5w\nSpeakers:\nDr Benjamin Du brulle (Maison Française d'Oxford) LOCATION:ZOOM WEBINAR TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/8907cec8-ecbb-4d39-87a5-65d3e97f55bc/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Feminists in the eyes of God: theories and practices of q ueer Muslim women in Britain - Dr Benjamin Dubrulle (Maison Française d'O xford) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Challenging the Limited View - The Case of the Women in Mosques M ovement (REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL) - Dr Yildirim DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20201028T140000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20201028T153000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/e5fc7342-0376-4630-996a-e863f9503160/ DESCRIPTION:Challenging the Limited View - The Case of the Women in Mosqu es Movement\n\nThe place of women in the religious space of mosques in Tur key has been a long debate- more so recently.\n\nThe Women in Mosques Move ment’s challenge of the quality of space allocated for women in mosques\ n\n led to strong criticism but also aroused genuine discussion about the deeply held beliefs underlying the place given to women as well as the spa ce women carve out for themselves. The seminar will explore the implicatio ns of international human rights law\, particularly women’s right to fre edom of religion or belief\, for the key demands of the Women in Mosques M ovement.\n\n \n\nBio – Dr. Mine YILDIRIM is the Head of the Norwegian He lsinki Committee’s Freedom of Belief Initiative project and Member of th e OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. She a scho lar of human rights law and an expert on international protection of freed om of religion or belief. She is the founder of the Freedom of Belief Init iative\, and works with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee on this Initiati ve monitoring and reporting on freedom of religion or belief in Turkey. Yi ldirim is a member of the OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religi on or Belief. Her work covers different facets of religious freedom\, incl uding the collective dimension of freedom of religion or belief\, gender d imension of freedom of religion or belief\, religious minorities and freed om of religion or belief in education. She was the co-recipient of the St efanus Prize in 2016. She received her doctoral degree at AAbo Akademi Ins titute for Human Rights with her thesis on the collective dimension of fre edom of religion or belief. Her doctoral thesis is published as a book ent itled The Collective Dimension of Freedom of Religion: A Case Study on Tur key. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the academic journal Relig ion & Human Rights and has published extensively in academic journals and contributes to Forum 18. She has served as a consultant on numerous intern ational projects.\n\nREGISTRATION ESSENTIAL: https://us02web.zoom.us/webin ar/register/5516024975544/WN_nZZaEXwzRQCEg8EmfibqdQ\nSpeakers:\nDr Yildiri m LOCATION:ZOOM WEBINAR TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/e5fc7342-0376-4630-996a-e863f9503160/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Challenging the Limited View - The Case of the Women in Mosques Movement (REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL) - Dr Yildirim TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR