HIST 321/350/351 Women in the History of the Modern Middle East

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures and how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The four volumes in our cultural sociology reference encyclopedia take a step forward in this endeavor by presenting concise information on those regions likely to be most "foreign" to U.S. students: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The intent is to convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. It is hoped entries within these volumes will aid readers in efforts to understand the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions.

Updating the 1996 edition in light of many new developments (e.g., the failed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2000, September 11th, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan), this new edition presents some 3,000 entries.

Women are working internationally to build a world based on gender equality and justice. Their concerns are shaped by conditions in their own countries and regions, and also by conditions for women in other parts of the world. Links forged by globalization, international relations, United Nations gender equality and development programs, and women's nongovernmental organizations connect their futures. This groundbreaking reference set documents the achievements and current challenges for all women, providing distortion-free and newly available information about women's status, in matters from education to violence, in more than 130 countries in the world's most populated areas.

This new and updated second edition includes 35 all new entries. In addition, dozens of entries are updated from the first edition to reflect the myriad changes in the Middle East and surrounding nations.