Lila Abu-Lughod (born 1952) is a

Palestinian-American Palestinian Americans ( ar, فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that they arrived dur ...

anthropologist. She is the Joseph L. Buttenweiser

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Social Science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

in the Department of Anthropology at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City. She specializes in

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

research in the Arab world, and her seven books cover topics including sentiment and poetry, nationalism and media, gender politics and the

politics of memory Politics of memory is the organisation of collective memory by political agents; the political means by which events are remembered and recorded, or discarded. Eventually, politics of memory may determine the way history is written and passed on, he ...

Early life and education

Abu-Lughod's father was the prominent

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

academic

Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Ibrahim Abu-Lughod ( ar, إبراهيم أبو لغد, February 15, 1929 – May 23, 2001) was a Palestinian (later American) academic, characterised by Edward Said as "Palestine's foremost academic and intellectual"Said 2001 and by Rashid Khali ...

. Her mother, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, née Lippman, was a leading American urban sociologist. She graduated from Carleton College in 1974, and obtained her PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1984.

Career

Abu-Lughod's body of work is grounded in long-term

research in Egypt, and is especially concerned with the intersections of culture and power, as well as gender and women's rights in the Middle East. Between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s, while she was still a graduate student, Abu-Lughod spent time living with the Bedouin Awlad 'Ali tribe in Egypt. She stayed with the head of the community, and lived in his household alongside his large family for a cumulative two years. Her first two books, ''Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society'' and ''Writing Women's Worlds'', are based on this fieldwork. Both books draw on her experiences living with the Bedouin women and her research into their poetry and storytelling. She explores the way that

ghinnawa Ghinnawas (literally "little songs") are short, two line emotional lyric poems written by the Bedouins of Egypt, in a fashion similar to haiku, but similar in content to the American blues.Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, b ...

s, songs in a poetic form that she compares to

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...

and the blues, express the cultural "patterning" of the society, especially with regard to the relations between women and men. Abu-Lughod has described a reading group that she attended while teaching at

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

– its other members included

Catharine A. MacKinnon Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, and Wendy Brown – as a formative engagement with the field of women's studies and a major influence on these early books. Abu-Lughod spent time as a scholar at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

, with Judith Butler,

Evelyn Fox Keller Evelyn Fox Keller (born March 20, 1936) is an American physicist, author and feminist. She is Professor Emerita of History and Philosophy of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Keller's early work concentrated at the intersect ...

, and

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

. She also taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, where she worked on a project, funded by a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

grant, intended to promote a more international focus in women's studies. Her 2013 book, ''Do Muslim Women Need Saving?'' investigates the image of Muslim women in Western society. It is based on her 2002 article of the same name, published in ''

American Anthropologist ''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), published quarterly by Wiley. The "New Series" began in 1899 under an editorial board that included Franz Boas, Daniel G. Brinton, and John W ...

''. The text examines post-9/11 discussions on the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, Islam, women's rights, and media. Abu-Lughod gathers examples of the Western narrative of the "abused" Muslim women who need to be saved. Abu-Lughod further explains how the narrative of saving Muslim women has been used as a way to justify military interventions in Muslim countries. She deftly questions the motives of feminists who feel that Muslim women should be saved from the Taliban all the while injustices occur in their own countries. She argues that Muslim women, like women of other faiths and backgrounds, need to be viewed within their own historical, social, and ideological contexts. Abu-Lughod's article and subsequent book on the topic have been compared to

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...

and '' Orientalism'' . Abu-Lughod serves on the advisory boards of multiple academic journals, including '' Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society'' and ''Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies.''

Awards and honors

In 2001, Abu-Lughod delivered the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

, considered by many to be the most important annual lecture series in the field of anthropology. She was named a

Carnegie Scholar The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

in 2007 to research the topic: "Do Muslim Women Have Rights? The Ethics and Politics of Muslim Women's Rights in an International Field." She has held research fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright, and the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitt ...

, among others. An article from ''Veiled Sentiments'' received the Stirling Award for Contributions to Psychological Anthropology. ''Writing Women's Worlds'' received the Victor Turner Award. Carleton College awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2006.

Significant publications

* ''Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories'' (University of California Press 1993) * ''Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East'' (Editor) (Princeton University Press 1998) * ''Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society'' (University of California Press 2000) * ''Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain'' (Editor) (University of California Press 2002) * ''Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt'' (University of Chicago Press 2004) * ''Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media'' (Amsterdam University Press 2007) * ''Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory'' with Ahmad H. Sa'di, (Columbia University Press 2007)
''Do Muslim Women Need Saving?''
(Harvard University Press 2013)

Personal life

Abu-Lughod is a supporter of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement. She is married to

Timothy Mitchell Timothy P. Mitchell is a British-born political theorist and student of the Arab world. He is a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University. He was previously Professor of Politics at New York University.New Columbia Hire Backed Ac ...

Notes

External links

A Community of Secrets: The Separate World of Bedouin Women

Bedouin Hasham in Lila Abu Lughod’s Book, Veiled Sentiments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Lughod, Lila Living people American women anthropologists American people of Palestinian descent Carleton College alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni New York University faculty American women writers Princeton University faculty Williams College faculty 1952 births American women academics American Islamic studies scholars Women scholars of Islam 21st-century American women