Feminism and Women's Political Activism in North Africa: challenges and perspectives

Women’s political activism has one century of history in North Africa, a history that intersects other social movements, and that has been documented and narrated by two generations of feminist scholars. Yet, the representation of North African women in mainstream Western public discourse tends to neglect this history, and continues to be grounded on Orientalist stereotypes. This panel challenges hegemonic narratives, framing North African women’s political activism in the context of the 2010 and 2011 uprisings ad their aftermaths. The historical and contemporary political experience of women in Tunisia, Algeria Egypt and Morocco shows, on one side, the necessity to go beyond generalisation such as ‘Arab women’, ‘Muslim women’ and ‘North African women’, and to shed light on the differences alongside continuities emerging in different contexts. Speakers: - Dr Fadma Ait Mous, Ain Chock Faculty of Letters and the Humanities University Hassan II of Casablanca - Professor Stephi Hemelryk Donald, Comparative Film, University of NSW - Dr Lucia Sorbera, Department of Arabic Language and Cultures , the University of Sydney Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 1 September 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/feminism_north_africa_forum.shtml