Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.

Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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Description
In this essay, I discuss Islamic feminism from the point of view of its proponents. By this, I hope to engage Muslims and traditionalists. Islamic feminism is the fight for gender equality, as a challenge to the way traditional Islam has perpetuated patriarchal power structures in the Muslim world. Today,

In this essay, I discuss Islamic feminism from the point of view of its proponents. By this, I hope to engage Muslims and traditionalists. Islamic feminism is the fight for gender equality, as a challenge to the way traditional Islam has perpetuated patriarchal power structures in the Muslim world. Today, feminist sentiment is on the rise in the Islamic world as more and more women are becoming engaged in this fight for gender equality. Islamic feminism reclaims the Quran as its justification and involves the struggle for gender equality grounded in this justification. I divulge into two linked claims: a normative one where gender equality is justified in Islam, and a descriptive one which posits that male domination over interpretive powers has distorted the way Islam has been practiced traditionally, thus placing women in a disadvantaged position. Islamic feminists, I have found, seek to reject the widespread patriarchal interpretation of the Quran by first, reinterpreting the Quran as an equalizing force, and then implementing Islamic feminism in the public sphere. I show that they do this by engaging politically and civically through activism, education, and political involvement — this I refer to as civic Islam, highlighting that public engagement is an inherent Islamic duty. For this end, I cite several countries — including Iran, Yemen, Tunisia — in which Islamic feminists have taken up the mantle as activists, and what their impact has been through brief case studies. In the end, I include my reflection on Islamic feminism as a college-educated Muslim woman having grown up in a Western, liberal society.
ContributorsAhmed, Lubaba (Author) / Simhony, Avital (Thesis director) / Lennon, Tara (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
Throughout modern culture and the political arena religious intolerance and misinformation runs rampant. Recent presidential elections have brought two minority religions (in the U.S.) to the forefront of national media attention and national dialogue-leading to presumptions, misunderstandings, and personal opinions that don't necessarily address the realities of the religions. Brought

Throughout modern culture and the political arena religious intolerance and misinformation runs rampant. Recent presidential elections have brought two minority religions (in the U.S.) to the forefront of national media attention and national dialogue-leading to presumptions, misunderstandings, and personal opinions that don't necessarily address the realities of the religions. Brought to the forefront by presidential candidates religions or by candidates targeting individual religions for their "connections" to terrorism, the LDS Church and Islam have become targets of religious bias and attacks. Even further attacked have been the women within these religions-who have often been deemed as objectified and oppressed as a result of their religions. This thesis examines religious text and scholarly work to take an objective examination of the religions and describes the realities of the life for the women-separating actual doctrine in the religion from what is a cultural norm and not a representation of the religion itself. By looking at women's roles and the dress code within Islam and Mormonism, this thesis compares Mormon and Muslim women and shows that they are integral parts of their religion with agency, not objectified victims of a system.
ContributorsWarren, Annie Michelle (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Daughtrey, Doe (Committee member) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
There has been great debate regarding the place of public religious worship in France in recent years. With each new instance of terrorist violence, discussion over France's changing religious landscape rears. Elemental to this conversation is the concept of Laïcité, France's unique version of secularism. Laïcité is often used to

There has been great debate regarding the place of public religious worship in France in recent years. With each new instance of terrorist violence, discussion over France's changing religious landscape rears. Elemental to this conversation is the concept of Laïcité, France's unique version of secularism. Laïcité is often used to support discriminatory bans on hijabs, niqabs, and burqas in public spaces. I argue that French colonial history in the Maghreb region demonstrates that Laïcité is a form of national state-building and opportunism in practice. It is a concept that developed alongside the establishment of colonial empire. An examination of this colonial history explains much of the current tensions in France over Islam, secularism, and public space.
ContributorsGurr, Alexandra (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Ripley, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2022-12