Contesting boundaries and producing the norm: Gender-related issues in Islamic theory and practice

(CfP in PDF)

Major social, economic, political transformations of the last decades have strongly affected both Muslim majority and Muslim minority countries, bringing issues related to gender and sexuality to the forefront. These transformations that have fundamentally altered the previously dominant role division between men and women (both in private and public spheres) have been fuelling broad-ranging and often heated debates on adjacent topics of gender-fluidity and sexual orientation, the institution of marriage, gender rights and freedoms. 

This special issue of Islamology aims to examine the variety of Muslim voices participating in these debates, focusing, among other aspects, on theological underpinnings of their arguments (i.e. employment and interpretation of the primary sources of Islamic teaching), contextual specificities (e.g. local traditions and community-shared rules), lived realities of Muslim men and women. Thereby, this issue seeks to combine historical, exegetical, legal and sociological approaches to study gender in Muslim contexts and to contribute to scholarly efforts that envision bridging the existing gap between Islamic and Gender studies. 

With this background, original and unpublished papers are invited on the following topics (this list being far from exhaustive):

  • The Qur’an and Sunna in defining gender boundaries
  • Issues of marriage and divorce
  • Monogamy/polyamory in Islam
  • Islamic feminism
  • Female religious authority, gender justice
  • Sexuality and hadith
  • Multiple identity layers: being Muslim and being (wo)man/gay/transgender/…/, LBTQ+ rights in Islam
  • Gender theory and Islamic studies

From a spacial perspective, the primary focus lies on countries of Central Eurasia, but contributions discussing Muslim practices in other geographical areas are equally welcome.

Authors interested in contributing to the special issue of Islamology are encouraged to submit their paper proposals (max. 500 words) to the guest editors, Gulnaz Sibgatullina and Michael Kemper, by February 1, 2021. Contributions can be written in any of the two languages used in the journal, Russian or English. Upon acceptance, the authors will receive within two weeks an invitation from the editors and should submit a full version of their paper by July 15, 2021.

All submissions and enquiry should be addressed at g.r.sibgatullina@uva.nl (сс m.kemper@uva.nl).

The languages of the journal are Russian and English; you can send abstracts and articles in either of those languages.

We remind you that articles in the journal are produced using the sixth edition of the APA Styleguide (APA 6th ed.). For more details on the rules, click here. In case of positive reviews, the authors will have to reformat their texts in accordance with our requirements, if the original form of the article doesn’t comply with them.

E-mail of the editors: paper@islamology.in
http://islamology.in