Revolutionary Womanhood

"Revolutionary Womanhood: Feminisms, Modernity, and the State in Nasser's Egypt is a timely history of the gender politics of the Nasserist revolutionary regime . . . She presents a nuanced and careful argument for understanding how many state feminist projects under Nasser has the unintended effect of creating new exclusions, constraints, and barriers for women." ~Yasmin Moll, Contemporary Islam

"Bier's Revolutionary Womanhood addresses a major void in the historical literature on Egypt. Showing how gendered politics proved central to Nasserist attempts to modernize, the book broadens our understanding of state feminism, secularism, and the postcolonial period. A very welcome addition, the work combines theoretical sophistication with rich evidence and well-crafted arguments." ~Beth Baron, CUNY Graduate Center

"Revolutionary Womanhood is a much needed-and long anticipated-study of the gendered aspects of state and nation building under Nasser, and of the gender (in)equalities that resulted from his state feminism. Laura Bier's well-researched and engaging text skillfully illustrates how Nasser spun 'the woman question' to define his Arab socialist agenda." ~Lisa Pollard, The University of North Carolina, Wilmington

"Finally, a superb historian has done justice to the revolutionary, future-oriented, and surprisingly neglected project of state feminism in Nasser's Egypt. Attentive to the social and cultural aspects of the political project, informed by comparative theories of gender and citizenship in socialist societies, and ready to challenge standard views of the 'failures' of this period, Laura Bier unpacks the complicated dynamics and legacy of an historical moment in which women were understood to be crucial to modern nation-building." ~Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University, author of Writing Women's Worlds and Dramas of Nationhood