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.
Recommended Citation
Otis, Rebecca Ann, "Palestinian Women: Mothers, Martyrs and Agents of Political Change" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 491.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/491
Copyright date
2011
Discipline
Women's studies, Middle Eastern studies, Islamic culture
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons