Description of the Mapping the Knowledge Project
The University of California Davis Arab Region Consortium (UCDAR), in partnership with the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS), is undertaking a project to map the production of knowledge (MPK) on women and gender in the Arab region over the past fifty years. The project is funded by the Foundation to Promote Open Society, Amman. The purpose is to identify all the critical work that has been published on the thematic of “socialities” – including what topics were researched, who carried out the research, on what countries, using what theories and methods, published in what languages etc etc. This scoping review of the literature will be followed by a qualitative systematic review of the research and finally a critical analysis of the published scholarly work on women and gender in the Arab region on a number of identified subthemes of socialities. The specific objectives are:
- To identify and map the knowledge that has been produced about women and gender in the Arab region since the 1970s.
- To carry out a scoping review, a qualitative systematic review, and a critical review of the research.
- To develop an integrative analysis of the findings of that research.
The ACSS is a regional, independent, non-profit organization, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon and working across the Arab region as well as globally. It is legally registered in Lebanon, as of October 2010, as a “Foreign Association” approved by a decree from the Council of Ministers. Its structure consists of a General Assembly, including both individual and institutional members, an elected Board of Trustees and a Secretariat headed by a Director-General. The ACSS is dedicated to strengthening social science research and knowledge production among individuals and academic/research institutions in the Arab region. The aim of ACSS includes dissemination, validation and utilization, while providing a model for academic excellence and professional standards in the region.
UCDAR is a consortium of six universities committed to collaborative, interdisciplinary research: American University of Beirut, American University in Cairo, Lebanese American University, Birzeit University, American University of Sharjah, University of California, Davis. Founded in 2001 by Suad Joseph (UC Davis), UCDAR currently is facilitating projects on Gendering STEM Education, Transforming Refugee Mental Health, Sustainability Research and Training Program, Water/Energy/Food Nexus, as well as the Mapping the Production of Knowledge on Women and Gender in the Arab Region.
Critical analysis of what we know (and do not know) about women in the Arab region is needed to support social change. Dominant frameworks on international development, human rights, women and gender have failed to integrate critical contexts and histories necessary to respond to changing realities in the Arab region. Universities are increasingly unable to sustain themselves as the sites of critical of knowledge production for the public good. This is a critical juncture: Nearly 25 years after Beijing (2020), where are we? What do we know about women and gender in the Arab region? What do we need to know? How do we train young scholars to provide the knowledge that is needed to more productively plan for the future of this vital region of the world?
The MPK will evaluate: 1.) The key theoretical and methodological frameworks guiding research; 2.) The role of funding agencies including NGOs in informing research; 3.) The role of local states/regimes in shaping knowledge production on women and gender in the Arab region; 4.) The patterns of findings.