Self-Determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies

Foreword

ix When John Jay College of Criminal Justice was founded in 1964 as a liberal arts college for police officers, it would have been virtually unimaginable that the college would be sponsoring an edited volume on the topics of self-determination and women’s rights in Muslim societies. Seen from this perspective, the existence of this book, artfully edited by James P. Levine, John Jay College’s former dean of research, and Chitra Raghavan, a member of our Psychology Department, is a testament both to the maturation of the idea of criminal justice education and the expanded reach of scholarly inquiry on the questions of justice. In this sense, this book reflects the enduring power of the promise inherent in John Jay’s mission of “educating for justice.” Yet given recent events, a broader perspective seems relevant. Today, as we are riveted by the forces of rebellion in the Middle East and northern Africa and inspired by the role of women fighting for democracy, it is equally unimaginable that these topics would be considered anything but central to an understanding of our modern era. The world is facing new challenges that had not emerged on the research agenda a half- century ago. Although the role of women in our society is a topic of timeless importance, the valiant struggles for self-determination in the modern era and the complex struggle for gender equality in the Muslim world combine to give scholarly treatments of women’s rights in Muslim societies a vibrant immediacy. Likewise, although the relationship between different religious institutions and the ideals of a pluralistic society is a topic that has occupied scholarly and public attention for centuries, F O R E W O R D f o r e W o r D x the modern challenge posed by the emergence of vibrant Muslim communities in Western democracies has acquired an urgency that calls for objective reflection and academic analysis. I know I speak for the editors and authors of this volume when I express the hope that this book will contribute to a deeper understanding of these crosscurrents in our global village. As president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, I am particularly proud that this volume reflects the scholarly contributions of the college’s Ninth Biennial International Conference, held in Marrakesh, Morocco, in June 2010. This conference was designed and sponsored in close collaboration with our Moroccan partners, the Advisory Council on Human Rights, the Hassan II University in Casablanca, and Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh . The conference brought together scholars from twenty-nine countries to address the theme of “Societies in Transition: Balancing Security, Social Justice, and Tradition.” The presentations at this multidisciplinary conference covered a remarkable array of topics, ranging from the reform of policing in Nepal to female suicide bombers and the international criminal record exchange . From this rich collection of presentations, we invited several presenters to transform their work into the chapters represented in this thematic volume. When we first approached our leading partner—Ahmed Herzenni at the Advisory Council on Human Rights—we realized we had a common goal: that our conference would make lasting and substantive contributions to the research literature on the issues embodied in the conference theme. I trust that this book represents a fulfillment of that aspiration. As John Jay College approaches its fiftieth anniversary, the topics addressed in this volume resonate with the modern educational activities of the institution . We have recently created a gender studies major and a human rights minor. In 2008 we hosted a research conference on femicide that was attended by 450 people. Our students have traveled to Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America for faculty-led study-abroad programs. Our faculty members are engaged in research activities in Muslim countries, on topics ranging from women police officers in Bahrain to Sharia reform in the Republic of Maldives. Last year, inspired in part by our experience in Morocco, we created a collegewide series of lectures, artistic presentations, and student activities titled “Mosques, Veils and Madrasses: Muslims and Institutions of Justice in Pluralistic Societies .” So, knowing that this volume will also have ongoing relevance to the f o r e W o r D xi education of our students and the research of our faculty, I wish to express my thanks, on behalf of our college, for the scholarly contributions represented in this exemplary...