Teaching Gender Politics and/in the Middle East

The Arab Political Science Network (APSN) organized its second Teaching Workshop on December 14-15, 2020 titled: Teaching Gender Politics and/in the Middle East. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop took place virtually over Zoom, bringing together over 15 multi and interdisciplinary faculty members teaching women and gender politics with a focus on the Middle East from Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, UAE, Morocco, Sweden and the United States. The workshop was led by by Nermin Allam (Rutgers University-Newark), Marwa Shalaby (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Hind Ahmed Zaki (University of Connecticut).

The two-day virtual program featured intense discussions and critical reflections on teaching gender and women studies in the Middle East. The discussions were structured around three sessions. The first surveyed the state of the field of gender studies in the Middle East and North Africa. The speakers shared their experience and pedagogical approaches to gender and women’s politics in the Middle East. The second session focused on some of the creative experiences, stories, and approaches to teaching a feminist engaged gender politics and the Middle East classes. The final session looked at the challenges and opportunities of teaching gender politics and the Middle East. Participants engaged in how they cope with adverse political and social environments and handle conflict, prejudice, and biases in the classroom.