Fatima Mernissi Research Paper
“My hope emerges from those places of struggle where I witness individuals positively transforming their lives and the world around them”(hooks 2003 p.xiv). This quote from Gloria Jean Waatkins ( bell hooks) is the epitome of how she views the world and the people around her. Known as one of the most prominent African American intellectuals she captures the minds and hearts of people all across the globe because of her dismissal of academic convention and her inclusion of personal reflection in her scholary work. Hooks, who addresses such subjects as feminism, civil rights and black womanhood, raises important questions about the tension between black women and white woman in the feminist movement and analyses how the media and popular culture portray African Americans. In this essay I hope to examine the life and some of the work of bell hook. In gaining a deeper knowledge of her work I then hope to compare her to Fatima Mernissi across a number of different subject areas. Fatima Mernissi, from an early age established herself as a campaigner for womens rights in Islam. Know as the first Islamic feminist, Mernissi’s classic study of sex roles , sexuality and
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sexual inequaligty in Islam is very useful in understanding the conflicting trends and values which muslims must navigate.
Gloria Jean Watkins (hooks) was born on the 25th of September 1952. She grew up in a working class family in Hopkinsville Kentucky. She had a large family consisting of five sisters and one brother, her father worked as a janitor and her mother as a maid for white families. Hook’s experience of growing up in a segregated community is one of the main reasons why she predominantly focuses on the effects of racism in her work. Throughout her schooling in the 1960’s hooks had a strong passion for writing. She had many of her poems published, however, it was short essays that gained peoples attention as she acquired herself a reputation as a writer of systems of domination. She felt that in order to pursue this type of writing career she had to change her name. She chose the pseudonym bell hooks and decided not to capitalise the first and last names, as she explained to Michel Mariott from the New York Times it was “to emphasise her message and not herself”. Hooks accepted a scholarship to Stanford University, in California where she studied for her B.A. She continued along the path of education to acquire a M.A. from Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from California Santa Cruz. Growing up she was an avid reader and describes Emily Dickinson as her “muse”. Sojourner Truth was also another major influence in hooks writing, her speech Ain’t I a Woman? Inspired hooks first major work. ®. With over thirty books, countless articles and five honour awards it is no wonder that bell hooks is considered to be among the foremost intellectuals of her generation. Born in Fez in 1940 Fatima Mernissi was raised among a family of wealthy landowners and agriculturists. Though she was raised in privileged surroundings, unlike hooks, her childhood was spent in the confines of the harem structure. As a young girl Mernissi lived in the more formal harem of her home in Fez as well as the rural harem of her maternal grandmother. Contrary to western notions of the harem as an exotic place in which women are kept for the erotic pleasure of men, Mernissi was raised in a traditional domestic harem, which consists of extended family and is designed to keep women sheltered from men outside of the family and the public sphere in general. At times, this highly circumscribed upbringing prompted feelings of frustrating isolation-at others, the intimate connections made among the women created a feeling of solidarity. She received her early education at Koranic schools and, after completing a degree in political science at University Mohammed V, Mernissi was awarded a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. She later moved to the United States to attend Brandeis University, where she earned a doctorate in sociology. After completing her education Mernissi returned to Morocco, where she became a professor of sociology at University Mohammed V in Rabat. Mernissi was largely influenced by her religion and the culture she was brought up in.
Throughout her work she continuously tracks both the historical and modern development of Islamic thought. Through the whole of her work she focuses on the subordination of women in Islam, however, she does not believe that this subordination has anything to do with the Qur’an. Her fieldwork focuses mainly on the lives of women in Morocco and throughout the 1970’s she conducted interviews with women from different class backgrounds which she has published in her book ‘Doing daily battle’. She too like hooks has many books and publications and in 2003 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias award. She is considered to be the first Islamic feminist who can effortlessly combine creativity with the shrewdest
intelligence. One of the most striking comparisons between these two women is how their childhood and upbringing led them to become celebrated feminists. Hook’s had the experience of growing up in a racially segregated community, with her father’s traditional beliefs regarding gender roles. Similarly to this Mernissi grew up in a time of oppression. Although Mernissi was not discriminated against because of the colour of her skin, her religion segregated her on the basis of her gender and she was not granted that which was given freely to her male counterparts. One factor that featured predominantly in both women’s lives was the female influence they received from family. Mernissi grew up in a harem, which meant that she was consistently surrounded by female companionship. This companionship was found not only in the form of her family but also with the numerous other families sharing with her who entertained their own respective areas. The harem for Mernissi was a cage, or as she describes it a “frontier, because you needed permission to step in or out. Every move had to be justified and even getting to the gate was a procedure” (Mernissi,21). Mernissi’s mother is someone who she gained a lot of strength and wisdom from, she was the only one who was ever able to stick up to her father®, similarly to this hooks feminist stance is rooted in the strong female role models that figured in her early life. At testament to this is her pseudonym bell hooks is that of her great-grandmother. Sexual inequality is a prominent feature of both Western and Islamic societies, however, they both differ greatly due to the different cultures. In “beyond the veil” Mernissi argues that modernization is incompatible with traditional Muslim structures and that the regulation and control of women’s sexuality is regarded as a threat to civilised society. Throughout this book Mernissi examines the effects that modernization and the modern life has on male-female relations. This is one of the basic elements of a Muslim society. I believe that this can be compared to hooks world inside a world. She grew up during the Jim Crow laws and was there when segregation was abolished. This however did not alter the amount of discrimination that she had to face. Hooks faced discrimination from white people because she was black but she also faced gender discrimination from all races. Just like Mernissi she lived in a world that was subject to the lashings of western ideology.
sexual inequaligty in Islam is very useful in understanding the conflicting trends and values which muslims must navigate.
Gloria Jean Watkins (hooks) was born on the 25th of September 1952. She grew up in a working class family in Hopkinsville Kentucky. She had a large family consisting of five sisters and one brother, her father worked as a janitor and her mother as a maid for white families. Hook’s experience of growing up in a segregated community is one of the main reasons why she predominantly focuses on the effects of racism in her work. Throughout her schooling in the 1960’s hooks had a strong passion for writing. She had many of her poems published, however, it was short essays that gained peoples attention as she acquired herself a reputation as a writer of systems of domination. She felt that in order to pursue this type of writing career she had to change her name. She chose the pseudonym bell hooks and decided not to capitalise the first and last names, as she explained to Michel Mariott from the New York Times it was “to emphasise her message and not herself”. Hooks accepted a scholarship to Stanford University, in California where she studied for her B.A. She continued along the path of education to acquire a M.A. from Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from California Santa Cruz. Growing up she was an avid reader and describes Emily Dickinson as her “muse”. Sojourner Truth was also another major influence in hooks writing, her speech Ain’t I a Woman? Inspired hooks first major work. ®. With over thirty books, countless articles and five honour awards it is no wonder that bell hooks is considered to be among the foremost intellectuals of her generation. Born in Fez in 1940 Fatima Mernissi was raised among a family of wealthy landowners and agriculturists. Though she was raised in privileged surroundings, unlike hooks, her childhood was spent in the confines of the harem structure. As a young girl Mernissi lived in the more formal harem of her home in Fez as well as the rural harem of her maternal grandmother. Contrary to western notions of the harem as an exotic place in which women are kept for the erotic pleasure of men, Mernissi was raised in a traditional domestic harem, which consists of extended family and is designed to keep women sheltered from men outside of the family and the public sphere in general. At times, this highly circumscribed upbringing prompted feelings of frustrating isolation-at others, the intimate connections made among the women created a feeling of solidarity. She received her early education at Koranic schools and, after completing a degree in political science at University Mohammed V, Mernissi was awarded a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. She later moved to the United States to attend Brandeis University, where she earned a doctorate in sociology. After completing her education Mernissi returned to Morocco, where she became a professor of sociology at University Mohammed V in Rabat. Mernissi was largely influenced by her religion and the culture she was brought up in.
Throughout her work she continuously tracks both the historical and modern development of Islamic thought. Through the whole of her work she focuses on the subordination of women in Islam, however, she does not believe that this subordination has anything to do with the Qur’an. Her fieldwork focuses mainly on the lives of women in Morocco and throughout the 1970’s she conducted interviews with women from different class backgrounds which she has published in her book ‘Doing daily battle’. She too like hooks has many books and publications and in 2003 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias award. She is considered to be the first Islamic feminist who can effortlessly combine creativity with the shrewdest
intelligence. One of the most striking comparisons between these two women is how their childhood and upbringing led them to become celebrated feminists. Hook’s had the experience of growing up in a racially segregated community, with her father’s traditional beliefs regarding gender roles. Similarly to this Mernissi grew up in a time of oppression. Although Mernissi was not discriminated against because of the colour of her skin, her religion segregated her on the basis of her gender and she was not granted that which was given freely to her male counterparts. One factor that featured predominantly in both women’s lives was the female influence they received from family. Mernissi grew up in a harem, which meant that she was consistently surrounded by female companionship. This companionship was found not only in the form of her family but also with the numerous other families sharing with her who entertained their own respective areas. The harem for Mernissi was a cage, or as she describes it a “frontier, because you needed permission to step in or out. Every move had to be justified and even getting to the gate was a procedure” (Mernissi,21). Mernissi’s mother is someone who she gained a lot of strength and wisdom from, she was the only one who was ever able to stick up to her father®, similarly to this hooks feminist stance is rooted in the strong female role models that figured in her early life. At testament to this is her pseudonym bell hooks is that of her great-grandmother. Sexual inequality is a prominent feature of both Western and Islamic societies, however, they both differ greatly due to the different cultures. In “beyond the veil” Mernissi argues that modernization is incompatible with traditional Muslim structures and that the regulation and control of women’s sexuality is regarded as a threat to civilised society. Throughout this book Mernissi examines the effects that modernization and the modern life has on male-female relations. This is one of the basic elements of a Muslim society. I believe that this can be compared to hooks world inside a world. She grew up during the Jim Crow laws and was there when segregation was abolished. This however did not alter the amount of discrimination that she had to face. Hooks faced discrimination from white people because she was black but she also faced gender discrimination from all races. Just like Mernissi she lived in a world that was subject to the lashings of western ideology.