God’s Feminine Shadow
Fatema Mernissi’s Political Theology of Territory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8201273 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel Kigar (corresponding author), Samuel B Kigar |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 449-471 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lfad079 |
| OpenAlex | W4390464176 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
At the close of the Cold War, the Moroccan feminist Fatema Mernissi joined intellectuals from around the world in analyzing the place of religion, culture, and civilization in the “new world order.” This article analyzes how Mernissi developed psychoanalytic, sexual difference feminism from within Muslim sources to critique this emergent form of territoriality. It shows how she attacked Muslim states, particularly Morocco, for appropriating premodern Muslim political theology to narrate their sovereignties in a world dominated by US-led militarism and neoliberalism. Then, it demonstrates how she used female figures, including the pre-Islamic goddess al-ʿUzza and the Moroccan spirit Haguza, to reveal how sexual difference would undermine exclusive claims to territorial sovereignty. Finally, it turns to Jonathan Z. Smith’s rejoinder to Mircea Eliade. Mernissi’s theory helps us to understand that Smith identified an important relationship between religion and territory but in a way that was androcentric and culturally specific
Civilization · Islam · Militarism · Neoliberalism (international relations) · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Shadow (psychology) · Social science · Sociology · Sovereignty · Territoriality · Theology · African Studies and Geopolitics · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender · Philosophy · Religious studies
Throughout your generations forever
The Birth of Territory
Map is not Territory
Walled States, Waning Sovereignty
Between Feminism and Islam
A History of Islam in America
Gendered Morality
Women and Gender in Islam
Secular and Islamic Feminist Critiques in the Work of Fatima Mernissi
Western Sahara
The Politics of Feminism in Islam
In Memoriam
A Search for Sovereignty
Complicity with Orientalism in Third-World Women's Writing
Women and Gender in Iraq
The Story of Radio Mind
Do Muslim Women Need Saving
Beyond the Veil
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |