Muslim societies - as well as Western perceptions of them - tend to be projected primarily through male perspectives. Our notion of the lives of women in these societies is far hazier and even more coloured by stereotypes than those of Muslim men. This volume intends to counter the prevailing views of Muslim women by presenting a cross-cultural perspective of their experiences and choices in contemporary Muslim communities, based on recent and hitherto unpublished research. The main theme running through these papers is the manner in which Muslim women consciously as well as unconsciously manipulate religious belief to negotiate their gender role within the situational context of their lives.

This volume counters the prevailing views and stereotypes of Muslim women - usually projected primarily through male interpretations - by presenting a cross-cultural perspective of their experiences and choices in contemporary Muslim communities. The main theme running through these papers is the manner in which Muslim women consciously, as well as unconsciously, manipulate religious belief to negotiate their gender roles within the situational context of their lives.

There has been much discussion among anthropologists and sociologists about the advantages and disadvantages of doing fieldwork in one's own society. The situation is made all the more complex when female Arab researchers perform such work in their own traditionally sex-segregated societies. In this book, Arab women researchers research their own societies and discuss the experience. The editors provide an introduction which helps to establish and define the practical and theoretical issues involved. But the six essays by the women social scientists themselves are the heart of this book. Each provides a unique, personal and privileged perspective. The collection also provides an overview of the issues involved in a number of different Arab communities - Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and a Bedouin community in the Egyptian Western Desert. "Arab Women in the Field" will appeal to social scientists working in or on the Middle East and other Islamic societies, as well as to anthropologists and sociologists interested in fieldwork and the subjective/objective dimensions of the research process.