Interpreting Islam, Modernity, and Women’s Rights in Pakistan — a new book by Anita Weiss

Interpreting IslamInterpreting Islam, Modernity, and Women’s Rights in Pakistan (Palgrave Macmillan, October 2014) is the latest book by Anita M. Weiss, professor and head, UO Department of International Studies. Professor Weiss is a long-time CSWS faculty affiliate.

Publisher’s synopsis

“In Pakistan, myriad constituencies are grappling with reinterpreting women’s rights. This book analyzes the Government of Pakistan’s construction of an understanding of what constitutes women’s rights, moves on to address traditional views and contemporary popular opinion on women’s rights, and then focuses on three very different groups’ perceptions of women’s rights: progressive women’s organizations as represented by the Aurat Foundation and Shirkat Gah; orthodox Islamist views as represented by the Jama’at-i-Islami, the MMA government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2002-08) and al-Huda; and the Swat Taliban. Author Anita M. Weiss analyzes the resultant ‘culture wars’ that are visibly ripping the country apart, as groups talk past one another—each confidant that they are the proprietors of culture and interpreters of religion while others are misrepresenting it.”