From Aug. 7 to 10, Dartmouth will host 38 academics from around the world to discuss feminist scholarship within the fields of Jewish and Islamic studies.
The conference will be held in Filene Auditorium and is free and open to the public. The three advertised sessions will focus on "The State of the Fields: The Gender Question," "Gender Studies at Middle East Universities" and "Feminism, Judaic and Islamic Studies in the Politicized American University."
Other sessions, which will be held privately, will cover such issues of discussion as Muslim-Jewish dialogue, Orientalism, gender and sexuality, and feminist views of Zionism and the Diaspora. During these sessions, scholars will discuss their personal research in relation to the topics.
Planning for this event began over a year ago in the spring of 2004, when the Ford Foundation approached Susannah Heschel, a professor of Jewish Studies and the coordinator of the convention, with a grant and asked that she propose the topic of discussion for the conference.
"I have extensive training in both Judaism and Christianity, but only limited exposure to the field of Islam," Heschel stated.
According to Heschel, her personal interests include such topics as the use of Islam as common ground during historical Judeo-Christian conflicts, the large Jewish body of scholarship on Islam and issues of gender as they relate to both Jewish and Islamic tradition.
The conference will address the parallel practices of female exclusion that can be drawn between the two faiths as one of its main topics.
"For example, in both synagogues and mosques, men and women sit separately," Heschel said. "Many label this practice as sexist ... but there is a lot of intensity within that women's section, and there are chances for women to take on leadership roles of their own."
Heschel emphasized that such interpretations of exclusion and sexism versus empowerment are often in conflict, and by bringing scholars from both faiths together the conference hopefully will address these issues in a novel way.
"Should we be focusing on the structures of exclusion or what women have created in their own separate spheres?" Heschel asked.
She received over 150 applications from scholars hailing from all over the world, from Europe to the Middle East to the United States and Canada.
"They were very enthusiastic," she said.
The chosen speakers, many of whom are graduate students and academics, have expertise in a wide range of disciplines including history, religion, political science and philosophy. Each has also performed research in areas related to gender.
Although topics discussed will encompass centuries of religious, social and political history, Heschel stressed the relevance of the conference to the world today.
"This is not only a chance to learn something about Islam and Islamic history, but also a chance to think about political discourse ... which to a large extent has involved the veil. It is clear that gender is playing a role in our public political discourse on the Islamic world and this is a chance to think about that," Heschel said. "This is a chance to hear from scholars who come from the Middle East, who come from the regions in question."
