[Centers and Institutes]

Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World

Call for Papers

Forthcoming Issue: Women’s Rights, Gender Mainstreaming, and Diversity Management in the Arab World

The Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW), at the Lebanese American University, is in the process of soliciting articles for the forthcoming issue of our quarterly publication Al-­Raida: http://www.lau.edu.lb/centers-institutes/iwsaw/raida-call-for-papers.html, which will focus on “Women’s Rights, Gender Mainstreaming, and Diversity Management in the Arab World.”

We are interested in receiving academic studies and short critical essays that revolve around the issue in question. Discourse and activism in the field of women’s rights has shifted gradually during the last half century, from a focus primarily on equality for women and men to a more comprehensive approach, encompassing various aspects of social, political, economic, legal, and cultural difference. How has this general trend towards a gendered and diversity-oriented approach affected women and men in the Arab world? Has the MENA region contributed to the global pool of knowledge and experience in this field, both from a scholarly and practical-political perspective?
Topics related to women’s rights, gender, and diversity can include (but are not restricted to):

• Transitions in the women’s rights movement in the Arab world over time
• The shift from gender equality to gender mainstreaming
• Dealing with “The Other”: religious, linguistic, racial, and social difference in the women’s movement
• The development of masculinity discourse
• Legal and political aspects of gender and diversity policy
• Integrating social minorities in the women’s movement: including issues related to disabilities, sexual orientation, and citizenship rights
• Globalization: the role of multinational corporations and international NGOs with respect to gender mainstreaming and diversity
• Diversity in the “ivory tower:” gender and difference in research and higher education
• The impact of Western and regional values on gender and diversity discourse and activism

If you are interested in contributing to this issue of Al-Raida, kindly send your abstract (250­300 words) no later than August 15, 2009. All abstracts submitted will be reviewed by Al­Raida’s editorial team and are subject to its approval. Once an abstract is approved, contributors will have to submit their paper no later than December 15, 2009. Submissions are accepted in English, Arabic, or French. All non-English submissions will be translated by IWSAW and published in English following the approval of the author.

This journal edition will be edited by Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, a scholar and trainer in the fields of gender mainstreaming and diversity management, who has previously edited two issues of Al-Raida (101/102 Non-Arab Women in the Arab World, 116/117 Arab Diaspora Women). Kindly send your emails simultaneously to the managing editor, Myriam Sfeir, at al-raida@lau.edu.lb and to the guest editor, Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, at sdabbous@ndu.edu.lb