¿Oriente es Oriente? Feminismo e Islamismo en Marruecos

Abstract

This article discusses some women' s movements in Morocco. It intends to demonstrate that the usual model that is used to explain women' s movements in the Arab World is not valid This model considers two kinds of women's movements: on the one hand, Western feminist movements, occidentalists, and on the other, Islamist movements, which are theoretically more authentic but also more repressive. Through the analysis of the positions adopted by Islamist and Feminist groups toward juridical changes of Mudawana, as well as the constructions of "womanhood" in these groups, the article shows how this dichotomous model oversimplifies the explanation of these processes. Furthermore, the use of this model in the research is not neutral. It has political consequences, such as the primitivization of the other. Ethnography makes possible other approaches to the topic and allows us to build a more nuanced interpretation.