In 2005 the World Bank released a gender assessment of the nation of Jordan, a country that like many in the Middle East has undergone dramatic social and gender transformations, in part by encouraging equal access to education for men and women. The resulting demographic picture there—highly educated women who still largely stay at home as mothers and caregivers— prompted the World Bank to label Jordan a “gender paradox.” Cheryl Brumley is impressed by the way this book challenges development truisms and hopes the policymakers and development professionals take heed before enacting broad policies in the Middle East.
Gendered Paradoxes: Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith, and Progress. Fida J. Adely. University of Chicago Press. 2012.
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In an episode of the popular Jordanian sketch comedy Bath Bayakha (Broadcasting Silliness), an actor opens a skit outside a centre which trains Jordanians how to become Khalijin (Gulf Arabs). Inside he teaches participants about the Saudi currency, and takes jabs at the Gulf accent.They also dance spiritedly with gold-plated guns, a knock at the perceived excess of Khaliji life.
Two men then deliver animated testimonials about the benefits of the programme, “I used to be a Jordanian now I’m a Khaliji – very good” one says with two thumbs up. As the montage reaches its end, a woman in a niqab appears. It is assumed at this point she will give an equally enthusiastic testimonial. Instead, she blinks and stares as crickets faintly croak in the background. This is the climax of the skit, aside from the obvious swipes at the Gulf’s most distinctive stereotypes, it all builds up to the silence of the women in the niqab.
Remaking Citizenship in Multi-Cultural Europe: Women’s Movements, Gender and Diversity. Edited by Beatrice Halsaa, Sasha Roseneil and Sevil Sümer. Palgrave Macmillan. August 2012.
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A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney. Princeton University Press. August 2012.
Laruelle and Non-Philosophy. John Mullarkey and Anthony Paul Smith (eds.). Edinburgh University Press. July 2012.
Syria’s 1970 bloodless coup by General Hafez al-Assad put in place a powerful autocratic machinery at the core of the state which continues under the control of his son Bashar. Power and Policy in Syria presents an analysis of Syria’s political structure: a ‘despotic’ state monopoly, a bureaucratic climate marked by fear, and an administrative structure through which centralized control is exercised. Andreas Aagaard Nøhr finds that this book’s value lies in the bold boundaries it attempts to push rather than its ultimate conclusion.
Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East. Radwan Ziadeh. I.B. Tauris. November 2012..jpg)
Dickens and Race. Laura Peters. Manchester University Press. January 2013.
Since the early 2000s, Turkey has been obliged to fulfill important requirements in the field of human rights as part of the Europeanization process. A historically nationalist and repressive state, the country has recently been making progress in this field. However, according to EU progress reports, a lot more is required especially in regards to anti-discrimination and minority rights laws. Kally Zarali highly recommends Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law as an interesting and in-depth historical overview of the case of minority rights and diversity.
Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law. Derya Bayir. Ashgate. 2013.
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