HIS 460                      Guidelines for Report on Section IV              October 31, 2007

This report is due on NOVEMBER 13^TH, in class. THIS IS ONE WEEK BEYOND THE DATE MENTIONED IN THE SYLLABUS. The requirements are the same as before, that it should be between four to six pages of typed prose (double spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins all around). I must emphasize yet, again, that I am looking for a serious engagement with the readings.

!! PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY !!

For this report, I am asking you to write a review of the last three week’s readings and film to ask how paying attention to gender adds to our understanding of issues of politics and power which deploy religious imagery and symbols. The central question this time, somewhat verbose, is:

How can adding gender as a category of analysis add to our understanding of religion-based politics, and how does the examination of religiously-derived decisions (such as taking the veil) problematize universalist readings of feminist politics?

            I would like you to address a few supplementary issues while keeping in mind this overarching question.

1. Are IDEOLOGIES of religious nationalism gendered, that is do they appear to prescribe different roles for men and women?

2. How are these ideologies negotiated by women?

3. Do the readings and film reveal that men and women may experience politics suffused with symbols of religiosity differently?

4. How can we use gender to problematize notions about religious identity?

5. How can we use religion, particularly culturally specific practices such as wearing of the veil, to problematize gender identity, such as notions of a universal sisterhood of womankind.

Please keep in mind that I want your report to address ALL the readings as well as the film we saw in the course. Make an argument (thesis) addressing the central question, and use data from ALL the readings and film to support your contention.