Dossier 26: Contributors

Marieme Hélie-Lucas
Founder and former international coordinator of WLUML
Algerian sociologist, mother of four, born in Algiers 1939 to a family of feminists. Active in the liberation struggle of Algeria. Taught epistemology and methodology in the social sciences in Algiers University before founding WLUML.

Deniz Kandiyoti
Reader in the Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies and Chair of the Center of Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus, University of London, UK
Deniz Kandiyoti taught at the Middle East Technical University (1969-74) and Boðaziçi University (1974-1980) in Turkey. She is the author of Concubines, Sisters and Citizens: Identities and Social Transformation (1997 in Turkish) the editor of Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey (2002), Gendering the Middle East (1996), Women, Islam and the State (1991) and has written numerous articles on gender, Islam, development and state policies.

Dr Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Senior Research Associate, London Middle East Institute, and Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (both at the School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, UK
Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a researcher on Islamic law and gender issues; author of Marriage on Trial and Islam and Gender; and co-director of the films Divorce Iranian Style and Runaway. She is currently (2004-5) Fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Uma Narayan
Professor of Philosophy, Vassar College, New York State, USA
Uma Narayan teaches Philosophy and Women’s Studies at Vassar College. She is the author of Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions and Third World Feminism, Routledge 1997, and coeditor of three anthologies of feminist philosophy.

Pragna Patel
Founder of Southall Black Sisters, London, UK
Pragna Patel is a leading member of Southall Black Sisters. Her wide-ranging experience encompasses working with and campaigning on black and minority ethnic women, particularly Asian women and domestic violence.

Farida Shaheed
Coordinator, Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre, Lahore, Pakistan
Farida Shaheed, sociologist by training and activist by choice, has written extensively on the intersections of culture, religion and women’s rights; development, governance and women; the state and citizens. She is a founder member of the national women’s lobby, Women’s Action Forum, and a Core Group Member of Women Living Under Muslim Laws. Publications include Imagined Citizenship - Women State and Politics in Pakistan (2002); The Other Side of the Discourse: Women’s Experiences of Identity, Religion and Activism in Pakistan (1999), Controlled or Autonomous: Identity and the Experience of the Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, (1994); Purdah and Poverty in Pakistan, (1989). Edited books include Shaping Women’s Lives: Law Customs and Practices in Pakistan (1998) and Women of Pakistan - An Annotated Bibliography.