Celebrating A Decade of Middle East Gender Studies

Abstract

This special issue celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS)—a joyful decade marked by the dramatic expansion of path-breaking new scholarship in Middle East gender studies. In this Introduction, I briefly trace the history of JMEWS and its parent organization, the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS), to mark some important historical milestones and to recognize those who have helped AMEWS and JMEWS to flourish. JMEWS is the professional journal of AMEWS, one of the major affiliate organizations of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North America. AMEWS was founded thirty years ago in 1984. Suad Joseph of the University of California-Davis led the way as the organization’s founder and first president. She was supported in her efforts by a dedicated group of Middle East feminist scholars from a wide variety of institutions and fields. Early on and in the days before the Internet, AMEWS hosted a lively newsletter. The AMEWS newsletter was edited for some time by Middle East historian Eleanor Doumato and later by Middle East economist Jennifer Olmsted and was sent by mail to all AMEWS members. However, over the years, it was recognized that a newsletter alone could not meet the needs of the growing community of Middle East feminist scholars. Thus, in the early 2000s, a team of senior AMEWS members, including miriam cooke, Sondra Hale, and Suad Joseph, formed an AMEWS publication committee, headed by Hale. Together, they drafted a proposal for an AMEWS-affiliated journal, to be called the Journal of