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The International Association of Women’s Museums

Feminist Translations

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Producing feminist translations is one of the core interests and ongoing goals of the Women and Memory Forum. “Feminist Translations”  is an ongoing project through which the WMF seeks to transfer and produce knowledge about feminist thought and gender issues, and to make this knowledge accessible in Arabic. Through the project, the WMF translates feminist writings and scholarly material on feminism and gender to and from the Arabic language.
The project aims to generate an Arabic glossary of gender and feminist-oriented terminology, which emerges during the process of translation by formulating new terminology in the Arabic language, hence shaping new feminist knowledge.
Two phases of the project “Feminist Translations” have been completed.

– Phase (1): Translating Vol. I of EWIC

The WMF published in Arabic the first volume of Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC), which was originally published in English by E. J. Brill (Leiden) in 2003 as part of a six-volume series edited by Suad Joseph. A working group from the WMF, under the supervision of Prof. Hala Kamal, translated into Arabic and edited for publication Volume (I) of EWIC entitled Methodologies, Paradigms and Sources. The Arabic translation is available in a free electronic copy as part of the WMF’s Publications. 
Translating the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC), much like the publication of EWIC itself, falls in line with the WMF’s foundational belief in the importance of knowledge production in the field of gender and women’s studies, and Islamic cultures. The WMF also believes in the value of translation, for what it entails of transferring and ultimately producing encyclopedic knowledge about women and Islamic cultures in the Arabic language.

– Phase (2): Feminist Translations Series

The WMF has completed its most recent publishing project, the Feminist Translations Series, which involves translating and publishing selected feminist writings in several disciplines and specializations. The project resulted in a series of readers on feminism and gender in the humanities and social sciences.
Since most of the WMF members are scholars and academics, they have attempted to integrate feminist methodologies and incorporate gender as a tool of analysis in their courses and teaching curricula. However, they were often challenged by the scarcity of scholarly material on gender theory and feminist studies in the Arabic language. The project “Feminist Translations Series” aims to provide Arabic-speaking students and researchers with seminal articles on gender issues and theories, as well as feminist theories and criticism in the different disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences.

List of Published Titles in the Feminist Translations Series

Volume I: The Reader on Gender in the Political Sciences, ed. Mervat Hatem, trans. Shohrat El-Alem

Volume II: The Reader on Feminism and Religious Studies, ed. Omaima Abou-Bakr, trans. Randa Aboubakr

Volume III: The Reader on Feminism and Historical Studies, ed. Hoda Elsadda, trans. Abir Abbas

Volume IV: The Reader on Gender and Anthropology/Sociology, ed. Hania Sholkamy, trans. Seham Abdel-Salam

Volume V: The Reader on Feminist Literary Criticism, ed. and trans. Hala Kamal

Volume VI: The Reader on Feminism and Psychology, ed. Afaf Mahfouz, trans. Aida Seif El-Dawla

Volume VII: The Reader on Feminism and Sexuality, ed. Hala Kamal and Aya Sami, trans. Aida Seif El-Dawla