Marnia Lazreg, a remarkable scholar and long-time sociology professor at Hunter College, passed away a few weeks ago. With over 40 years of work in academia, she racked up an impressive list of accomplishments. Not only did she have a significant impact on the fields of sociology and Middle Eastern Studies, especially in the area of gender studies and social theory, but her books and articles featured ground-breaking research and analyses. And I believe her reach deserved to go much further.
As Roshan Iqbal said in her interview with me last fall, the field of Islamic Studies is full of female scholars. And yet these academics repeatedly receive less attention than their male colleagues. Look at the scholars referenced or interviewed by the media about Middle Eastern issues — names like John Esposito, Marc Lynch, Reza Aslan, Bernard Lewis, and Karen Armstrong. Most are men, work at Ivy League schools or large universities, or teach in Washington DC, near the center of U.S. government.
Thus today, I want to shine a light on Marnia Lazreg, her important work, and the legacy she has left behind. I didn’t know about Lazreg before hearing of her passing, and I was inspired by her story. If you don’t know her name, I urge you to read on.
Who is Marnia Lazreg?
Lazreg was an influential scholar in many ways. As a Washington Post obituary stated, “She ranked among the most respected academic voices on women’s affairs in North Africa and helped expand Arab viewpoints in Western feminist scholarship.” Her impact is evident not just through her many publications, which I’ll discuss below, but also through the length and breadth of her distinguished career.
Born in northwestern Algeria in 1941, Lazreg received a degree in English literature from the University of Algiers and a PhD in Sociology from NYU. She taught at several institutions across New York, before joining Hunter College as a professor in 1988. Lazreg’s work earned her many prestigious fellowships too, at places like Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Brown University’s Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (in Lake Como, Italy).
But Marnia Lazreg was not only a scholar, she also put her work into practice in the field. A touching tribute on the CUNY website describes how “Lazreg enjoyed a parallel career incorporating women into international development programs.” This included work with several U.N. agencies, as well as World Bank projects in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
A Selection of Lazreg’s Books
Marnia Lazreg wrote and published seven books and numerous academic articles. These include theoretical works, ground-breaking research in gender studies, and a French-language novel Le Réveil de la Mère under the pseudonym Meriem Belkelthoum. Here, however, I’ll concentrate on a few of her academic works. For me, her focus on the active role of Algerian women is especially compelling. Lazreg highlighted women’s activism during and after the French colonial period, and their input on religious issues like the headscarf (hijab).
Let’s start with The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question, originally published in 1994 and revised in 2018. This is a must-read for those who focus on women’s studies or gender studies in North Africa.
Per the publisher, Lazreg “makes a critical departure from more traditional studies of Algerian women, which usually examine female roles in relation to Islam – and instead takes an interdisciplinary approach, arguing that Algerian women’s roles are shaped by a variety of structural and symbolic factors…. The book foregrounds women’s determination to forge ahead, as well as their activism, which led to progress in fighting rape and other forms of violence made banal in the wake of the civil war (1992–2002). It also calls for a ‘decolonization’ of concepts and theoretical systems used in accounting for women’s lived reality, and a questioning of facile postfeminist discourses in their manifold expressions.”
Next, Lazreg’s 2009 book Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women directly addresses the topic of the headscarf in a thoroughly researched and well-argued work. I believe her approach is vital. Why are women choosing to wear a headscarf and what effect does wearing one have on their lives? As Lazreg’s publisher explains:
“Across much of the world today, Muslim women of all ages are increasingly choosing to wear the veil. Is this trend a sign of rising piety or a way of asserting Muslim pride? And does the veil really provide women freedom from sexual harassment? …. Lazreg stresses that the veil is not included in the five pillars of Islam, asks whether piety sufficiently justifies veiling, explores the adverse psychological effects of the practice on the wearer and those around her, and pays special attention to the negative impact of veiling for young girls. Lazreg’s provocative findings indicate that far from being spontaneous, the trend toward wearing the veil has been driven by an organized and growing campaign that includes literature, DVDs, YouTube videos, and courses designed by some Muslim men to teach women about their presumed rights under the veil.”
Lastly, many great books discuss and debate Islamic feminism. I like the work of Margot Badran, Asma Barlas, Fatema Mernissi, and Amina Wadud, for instance. But research that zooms in on North African feminism is harder to find. And so, Lazreg used her expertise on Algeria to brilliant effect, penning the book Islamic Feminism and the Discourse of Post-Liberation: The Cultural Turn in Algeria.
As the publisher explains, this book “examines the cultural turn for women in the Middle East and North Africa, analyzing the ways they have adjusted to and at times defended, socially conservative redefinitions of their roles in society in matters of marriage, work, and public codes of behavior…. Focusing on Algeria, but making comparisons with Tunisia and Morocco, it takes an in-depth look at Islamic feminism and studies its functions in the geopolitics of control of Islam. It also explores the knowledge effects of the cultural turn and crucially identifies a critical way of re-orienting feminist thought and practice in the region.”
What Next?
I truly admire Lazreg’s work and her contributions to sociology and Middle Eastern Studies. For more details about her life and accomplishments, I encourage you to read this beautiful In Memoriam piece from the City University of New York and this detailed obituary from The Washington Post. Lazreg’s passion, intellect, and ground-breaking scholarship shine through in each of these pieces.
Did any of her books pique your interest? Look for these works and others in your local library, your nearest bookstore, or online venues like Bookshop.org., Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.
For those curious about other aspects of religion in the Middle East, you can also check out my recent interviews with other scholars. For example, I spoke with Deanna Ferree Womack, an expert on Christian-Muslim relations and the history of Arab Protestants in Syria. And Seema Golestaneh, who studies Sufism in Iran and contemporary Islamic thought. And Sarit Kattan Gribetz, whose diverse research covers Rabbinic literature and the history of Jerusalem.
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