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Falmouth Forum Series 2006-2007
"Arab Women's Dilemmas with Democratic Reform"
January 19, 2007 - Lillie Auditorium, 7:30 PM
Lectures are free and open to the public.
Andrea B. Rugh, Adjunct Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
Abstract:
Americans’ misconceptions about the Arab World make it difficult to understand the full import of current events or the place of women in Arab society. There are several reasons for this ignorance—a general lack of reliable information on the area, very different cultural perspectives, and a tendency to assume people of other societies see things as we do. This talk will describe how the West’s models of liberal democracy come up against contradictory legal codes, concepts of rights, and modes of political participation in the Arab World. Arab values are shaped by Arab cultural and historical experiences that differ from Western experiences in the context where liberal democracy evolved. The talk will show how Arab women’s issues are central to many of the contradictions between Western and Arab views of society and governance and how our misconceptions about Arab women make it difficult for us to discuss their issues in an informed way. It will show where Arab women stand on international measures of women’s progress, and identify areas where Arabs themselves believe women’s issues need reform. Because Arabs and Westerners see these issues so differently, it is important to understand Arab views before seeking reforms that may have entirely different consequences in Arab societies.
Dr. Andrea Rugh is a researcher and writer. During her career she was a technical advisor for USAID development assistance projects in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. From 1987 to 1994 she was Research Associate for the Harvard Institute of International Development and from 1996 to 2002 worked on projects for Save the Children and UNICEF in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She is currently Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. Based on more than 40 years work and residence in Arab countries, Dr. Rugh has published a number of books on Middle Eastern culture and society including Family in Contemporary Egypt (Syracuse University Press 1984), Reveal and Conceal: Dress in Contemporary Egypt (Syracuse University Press 1986), Within the Circle: Parents and Children in an Arab Village (Columbia University Press, 1997), and two translated books Daughter of Damascus (Siham Tergeman , University of Texas Press, 1994), and Tales of Aleppo (Samir Tahhan, University of Texas Press 2004). Her latest book is The Political Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates (forthcoming Palgrave-Macmillan). Dr. Rugh received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from American University in Washington, D.C. (1978) and a B.A. in Psychology from Oberlin College (1957).
Admission to this Falmouth Forum presentation is free and open to the public. A buffet dinner is available before the lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Swope Center located near the auditorium. Dinner tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance at either Eight Cousins Children’s Books, Main Street, Falmouth, or at the MBL’s Communications Office in the Candle House in Woods Hole. Dinner seats are limited and tickets are only available until they sell out or until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16. For more information, contact the MBL Communications Office at: (508) 289-7423 or
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