Missing Gender: Conceptual Limitations in the Debate on “Sectarianism” in the Middle East

Abstract

: This article demonstrates how gender analysis has been profoundly overlooked in many studies of sectarianism in the Middle East. While numerous books and articles have discussed the question of gender in the MENA region more broadly, dominant scholarship focusing on sectarianism misses this gender-informed perspective. By examining recent publications on sectarianism and showing how gender analysis can add significantly to their interpretations, the article highlights how the gendered position of researchers and their subjects is a pressing concern in studies of sectarianism. Overall, the article provides specific suggestions for integrating gender analysis into the field, and it demonstrates how gender is a key dimension of the cultural, discursive, political, and ideological production of sectarianism.