“After More than a Century, Did the Philippines Finally Break Free of the Unites States?” by Victoria Reyes

Click here to view Victoria Reyes’s (UC Riverside) op-ed for the Washington Post.
Victoria Reyes
Reyes, Victoria. 21 February 2020. “After More than a Century, Did the Philippines Finally Break Free from the United States? Possibly. But to truly be free, the Philippines must also steer clear of China’s grasp.” Made by History at The Washington Post. Available online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/21/after-more-than-century-did-philippines-finally-break-free-united-states/

Not-So-Secret Weapons: Lebanese Women’s Rights Activists and Extended Family Networks

Stephan, Rita. 2019.  “Not-So-Secret Weapons: Lebanese Women’s Rights Activists and Extended Family Networks.” Social Problems, Volume 66, Issue 4: 609–625 This study asks one crucial question: How do Lebanese women apply available social capital and informal social networks to engage in political activism for women’s rights? Building on social- and women’s-movement theories, I argue that Lebanese feminists do not exclusively operate in the public sphere in their fight for political goals, nor do they privilege only the extra-family space. On the contrary, they engage in political activities by using extended family networks as a form of weak social ties. I construct this argument on the basis of interviews, observations, and analysis of Lebanese feminists’ writings. This paper introduces the concept of mahsoubieh as a form of weak social ties generated within connective family networks. Specifically, I examine how elite, intellectual, and middle-class Lebanese women activists use the positive social capital generated by mahsoubieh to gain credibility, diffuse their political stances, and develop countervailing power. Aspects such as the size, reputation, and respectability of their kinship networks aided the Lebanese women in their fight to change the legal structure concerning women’s rights and political representation.

Women Rising: In and Beyond the Arab Spring

Stephan, Rita and Mounira M. Charrad, eds., 2020. Women Rising: In and Beyond the Arab Spring, New York: New York University Press.
Women Rising
Women Rising brings together groundbreaking essays by female activists and scholars documenting women’s resistance before, during, and after the Arab Spring. In this timely volume, Stephan and Charrad paint a picture of women’s first-hand experiences in sixteen countries. Contributors provide insight into a diverse range of perspectives across the entire movement, focusing on often marginalized voices, including rural women, housewives, students, and artists. Women Rising offers an in-depth understanding of an important twenty-first century movement, telling the story of Arab women’s activism.  See also: Charrad, Mounira M.& Amina Zarrugh. 2020. “Women are Complete, not Complements: Terminology in a New Constitution in Tunisia.” in Women Rising: In and Beyond the Arab Spring,  R. Stephan & M. M. Charrad, eds., New York: New York University Press.