In Changing Stories: Postmodernism and the Arab-Islamic World some recent ideas current in postmodernist theoretical discourse are critically investigated and pragmatically applied to concrete issues relating to the contemporary Arab-Islamic world. In particular Jean-François Lyotard's distinction between "grand narratives" (or master stories) and "small stories" (or local narratives) is taken by the authors as a starting-point and point of reference and in various ways they address the legitimacy and applicability of this distinction. After a general introduction nine separate articles deal with the predicament of Palestinian women in the occupied territories, Dutch development-aid discourse in Gaza and the West Bank, Islamism and modernism in Tunisia, modernist and postmodernist political discourse in Egypt, feminism in Egypt and, as a "travelling theory", in the Arab world as a whole, juridical and educational attitudes towards Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands, and the concept of the "Islamic city".
The volume should therefore be of interest not only to those concerned with Middle Eastern studies but also to anyone wanting to keep abreast of the latest currents in critical and theoretical discourse.
Table of contents:
Preface. The EDITORS: Changing Stories: Postmodernism and the Arab-Islamic World. Annelies MOORS: Crossing Boundaries, Telling Stories: Palestinian Women Working in Israel and Poststructuralist Theory. Toine van TEEFFELEN: Development Discourse: The Case of Palestine. Arend Jan TERMEULEN: Metanarratives and Local Challenges: Islamist and Modernist Discourses in Contemporary Tunisia. Roel MEIJER: Postmodernism and Egyptian Political Thought. Azza M. KARAM and Inge ARENDS: Postmodernisn and Women's Groups in Egypt. Inge E. BOER: Remastering the Master Narrative or Feminism as a Travelling Theory. Sarah van WALSUM: The Politics of Culture: Orientalism in Court. Joke van der ZWAARD: Naughty Boys and Obstinate Girls: District Nurses' Cultural and Professional Explanations of Child Rearing Practices. Richard van LEEUWEN: The Quest for the 'Islamic City'. SUMMARIES.
The volume should therefore be of interest not only to those concerned with Middle Eastern studies but also to anyone wanting to keep abreast of the latest currents in critical and theoretical discourse.
Table of contents:
Preface. The EDITORS: Changing Stories: Postmodernism and the Arab-Islamic World. Annelies MOORS: Crossing Boundaries, Telling Stories: Palestinian Women Working in Israel and Poststructuralist Theory. Toine van TEEFFELEN: Development Discourse: The Case of Palestine. Arend Jan TERMEULEN: Metanarratives and Local Challenges: Islamist and Modernist Discourses in Contemporary Tunisia. Roel MEIJER: Postmodernism and Egyptian Political Thought. Azza M. KARAM and Inge ARENDS: Postmodernisn and Women's Groups in Egypt. Inge E. BOER: Remastering the Master Narrative or Feminism as a Travelling Theory. Sarah van WALSUM: The Politics of Culture: Orientalism in Court. Joke van der ZWAARD: Naughty Boys and Obstinate Girls: District Nurses' Cultural and Professional Explanations of Child Rearing Practices. Richard van LEEUWEN: The Quest for the 'Islamic City'. SUMMARIES.