Date of Award

1-1-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Josef Korbel School of International Studies

First Advisor

Martin Rhodes, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Nader Hashemi

Third Advisor

Alan Gilbert

Keywords

Intifada, Mothers, Nonviolence, Palestine, Suicide bombers, Women

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to understand the role of women as political actors in the rise of Islamo-nationalist movement in Palestine. Using a historical and ethnographic approach, it examines the changing opportunity structures available to Palestinian women in the nationalist struggle between 1987 and 2007. It looks into the sites of political engagement of Palestinian women as mothers, organizers and political candidates, suicide bombers, and nonviolent activists with attention paid to the evolution of the Islamist ideology within these four pathways for political participation. The goal of this work is to engage the question of how some Palestinian women who appear to diverge from the commitments of feminist emancipatory visions are active participants in the Islamist transformation of the Palestinian nationalist struggle. In doing so, this dissertation seeks to unveil the evolution of gender relations within the Palestinian nationalist struggle while providing a deeper analysis of the emergence and significance of the Islamist movement in contemporary Palestinian society. It makes an interdisciplinary contribution to existing literature in nationalism and post-colonial studies, social movements, identity politics and feminist political thought in the Middle East.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Rebecca Ann Otis

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

272 p.

Discipline

Women's studies, Middle Eastern studies, Islamic culture

Download



Share

COinS