Womens Activism and
New Media in the Arab World
Womens Activism and
New Media in the Arab World
A HMED A L -R AWI
Cover painting by Alaa Al-Musalli
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
2020 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Al-Rawi, Ahmed K., author.
Title: Womens activism and new media in the Arab world / Ahmed Al-Rawi.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019036158 | ISBN 9781438478654 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438478678 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: FeminismArab countries. | WomenArab countriesPolitical activity. | Mass media and womenArab countries. | Social movementsArab countries.
Classification: LCC HQ1784 .A6734 2020 | DDC 305.420917/4927dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019036158
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To my daughters, Wejd and Rend, with all my love.
Youre my hope, life, and future!
Artists Statement
Alaa Al-Musalli
Scheherazade: The Powerful Storyteller
Legend has it that a king named Shahryar, a heartless man overwhelmed with wrath and hatred of women, began to wed virgins every night then had them beheaded the next day. Hundreds of young women lost their lives until he wed his ministers daughter, Scheherazade, the well-read beauty who ended his deadly rampage. She captured Shahryars mind through cleverly interwoven stories that she would start just before bedtime and stop halfway just before the crack of dawn, with the promise to finish the next day. Many stories of beasts and kings of bygone times lasted 1,001 nights, until Shahryars mind and soul were completely taken by the powerful storyteller, whom he made his queen. This book cover is inspired by the Arabian Nights and is meant to show the patriarchal nature of most Middle Eastern societies, yet it also emphasizes womens empowerment, for despite all adversaries and violence, women can and will find their right places and achieve equality.
Contents
Illustrations
Figures
Tables
Preface
O ne of the main reasons I was encouraged to write this book was the gap in empirical research in this important field of study on womens activism in the Arab world. More research is needed, as rapid changes continue to occur and new issues to emerge. The book is divided into six chapters. Drawing from a variety of sources, the first chapter provides an introductory account on the social and cultural status of Arab women and the nature of the prevalent cultural values that exist in the Arab world. It also offers an understanding on the changing beliefs and values that the Arab world is witnessing, partly due to the emergence of new media technologies influencing the lives of people in different ways. I argue that technology is useful in creating change, yet womens agency remains paramount in achieving equality and social justice amidst the many social and political forces that resist such change. The first chapter concludes with a methodology section that explains the different approaches followed. In general, the book draws its materials from raw data collected from many social media outletsamong them Twitter, Facebook, and YouTubeand a variety of social science computational methods are applied to analyze the data. Later, proper contextualization and relevant theoretical frameworks are provided to assist in interpreting the data.
The second chapter deals with a number of leading female activists in the Arab world and how they strive to create sociopolitical change in such various aspects as sexual literacy, ethnic and racial equality, freedom, and human rights.
Each subsequent chapter deals with a particular form of womens activismreligious, political, social, or culturaland how it is aided by new media technologies and manifested through popular online mobilization and awareness campaigns. Each chapter presents important case studies that are empirically investigated to illustrate the complexities and challenges of womens activism in the Arab world. I end the book with a short conclusion that sums up the main findings, predicts the future trajectories of womens activism and the role of new technologies in the region, references the limitations of the study, and recommends possible future research.
Acknowledgments
T his books genesis can be traced back to when I was teaching an undergraduate course entitled Media and Cultural Context (COMS367) from 2015 to 2018 in the Communication Studies Department of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The course included lectures on womens equality, social movements, and rights from around the world, and my classes consisted of hundreds of enthusiastic, passionate, and active students from diverse backgrounds. I believe writing this book would have been impossible without the rich discussions and debates I enjoyed in this course. I would like to thank all of my students for inspiring me.
I would also like to thank many people who have directly and indirectly encouraged me to pursue this research project, especially my wife, Alaa Al-Musalli, for her generosity and making everything magically possible, and my mother, Nawal Namuq, from whose life and struggles I learned many lessons that have helped me along the way. I also wish to thank my two daughters, Wejd and Rend, to whom I dedicate this book. I am eager to see in the future how my daughters, who have lived most of their lives outside the Arab world, relate to the many causes, issues, and concerns of women in the Arab world. I have personally witnessed the injustice, mistreatment, and harassment that women in the Arab world, and elsewhere, continuously experience, which has been another motivating factor for writing this book.
I would additionally like to thank the NGO leaders and managers, especially Dareen Hasan, Roula El Masri, and Thuraya Rufaat, who generously responded to my inquiries and answered my questions about their important feminist activities. Many colleagues, friends, and students have been supportive of this project in particular and/or my research and career in general, including the following from Concordia University: Yasmin Jiwani, Stephen Monteiro, Brian Gabrial, Elizabeth Miller, Brian Lewis, and Charles Acland. I also thank Maha Tazi, Taghrid Alhowish, and Aranzazu Gutierrez for the interesting discussions on feminism, womens issues, and social movements that I had with them. I thank Karim Karim (Carleton University), Oumar Kane (UQAM), Jeroen Jansz (Erasmus University), Jacob Groshek (Boston University), Amin Saikal (National University of Australia), Cecile Rousseau (McGill University), and Tareq Ismael (University of Calgary) for their general support through the years. Further, I wish to sincerely thank the staff at SUNY Press, particularly senior production editor Diane Ganeles and senior acquisitions editor Dr. Michael Rinella, who has shown continuous support from the beginning. Thank you, Michael, for the numerous positive responses to my endless inquiries and emails, and for your great patience and understanding. I also thank the copy editor of my manuscript, John Wentworth, for the thorough, detailed, and insightful feedback and revisions made.
