RELS:2852 Women in Islam and the Middle East: Women in Islam
Women wear the chador at the Chehel Menbar
© Fernando Moleres / Panos Pictures
MES Reference
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British Library's EThOS (Electronic Theses Online)Includes 400 doctoral theses focusing on the Middle East, Islamic studies and related subjects which can now be downloaded for free by scholars worldwide. Users must register.
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Brockelmann Online This link opens in a new windowBrockelmann Online consists of both original volumes Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) by Carl Brockelmann (1868-1956), as well as the three supplement volumes, including the indexes. It is full-text searchable, making it much easier to consult for researchers and students. The "Brockelmann" has become an indispensible research tool for anyone working on the Islamic world in general and the Middle East in particular.
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Encyclopedia Iranica This link opens in a new windowThe Encyclopædia Iranica is dedicated to the study of Iranian civilization in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The academic reference work will eventually cover all aspects of Iranian history and culture as well as all Iranian languages and literatures, facilitating the whole range of Iranian studies research from archeology to political sciences.
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Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān This link opens in a new windowThe Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān Online is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur’ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur’ānic studies.
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Encyclopaedia Islamica This link opens in a new window"Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage."
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Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics This link opens in a new windowComprehensively covers all aspects of Arabic languages and linguistics. It is interdisciplinary in scope and represents different schools and approaches to be as objective and versatile as possible.
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Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures Online This link opens in a new windowThis encyclopedia is an interdisciplinary, trans-historical, and global project embracing women and Islamic cultures in every region where there have been significant Muslim populations. It aims to cover every topic for which there is significant research, examining these regions from the period just before the rise of Islam to the present.
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Islamic Philosophy OnlineThis site contains hundreds of full-length books and articles on Islamic philosophy, ranging from the classical texts in the canon of Islamic philosophy to modern works of Muslim philosophy.
Databases
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Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures (Brill)The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures Online is an interdisciplinary, trans-historical, and global project embracing women and Islamic cultures in every region where there have been significant Muslim populations. It aims to cover every topic for which there is significant research, examining these regions from the period just before the rise of Islam to the present. The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures Online crosses history, geographic borders and disciplines to create a groundbreaking reference work reflecting the very latest research on gender studies and the Islamic world.
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ATLA Religions Database + ATLA SerialsATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials combines the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of major religion and theology journals. The ATLA Religion Database includes more than 555,000 article citations from more than 1,656 journals (518 currently indexed), more than 232,000 essay citations from over 16,700 multi-author works, and more than 511,000 book review citations.
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Ethnic Newswatch Complete This link opens in a new windowEthnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The database now also contains Ethnic NewsWatch: A History, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989
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Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new windowCurrent and archived information from thousands of local, regional, national, and international news sources. Find diverse perspectives on topics related to business and economics, controversial issues, criminal justice, education, environmental studies, health, international studies, performing and fine arts, political science, science, social issues and more from a variety of current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, periodicals, videos and web-only content. Includes the Chicago Tribune and some Iowa newspapers.
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Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowRECOMMEND USING CHROME; Combines CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association (NCA)), and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Pennsylvania State University).
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GenderWatchPrimarily a full text database with some abstracts that contains periodicals, academic journals, newsletters, magazines, regional publications, and government reports focused on gender and women's issues.
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JSTORProvides full-text access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences (including art, architecture and archaeology). Note: this database contains only back issues and does not include full-text of the most recent 3 to 5 years.
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Encyclopaedia of Islam This link opens in a new windowThe Encyclopaedia of Islam sets out the present state of our knowledge of the Islamic World from religion and history to politics and culture. It includes articles on distinguished Muslims of every age and land, on tribes and dynasties, on the crafts and sciences, on political and religious institutions, on the geography, ethnography, flora and fauna of the various countries and on the history, topography and monuments of the major towns and cities. Its geographical and historical scope encompasses the old Arabo-Islamic empire, the Islamic countries of Iran, Central Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Indonesia, the Ottoman Empire and all modern Islamic states. The entire text of volumes I to XI and Supplement (Volume XII) of the printed edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam is included.
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Index IslamicusIndex Islamicus™, produced by Brill Academic Publishers, is an international bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world. It covers history, beliefs, societies, cultures, languages and literatures. It includes material published by Western orientalists, social scientists and Muslims writing in European languages. The file contains indexing for over 3,400 titles with coverage dating back to 1906.
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Project MUSEWith full text for well over 300 journal titles from university publishers, Project MUSE covers the humanities and social sciences, including the visual and performing arts. Coverage begins in 1995.
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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (PQDT Global) This link opens in a new windowProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day and offering full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997. [Not compatible with Internet Explorer 9]
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Worldwide Political Science AbstractsThis database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy.
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Historical AbstractsAn exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 forward, including world history, military history, women’s history, history of education, and much more. This authoritative database provides selective indexing of historical articles from more than 1,800 journals in over 40 languages back to 1955. With over 800,000 records, Historical Abstracts is unmatched in its scope and breadth of historical and related social science literature.
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Oxford Islamic Studies OnlineEncompassing over 5,000 A-Z reference entries, chapters from scholarly and introductory works, Qur'anic materials, primary sources, images, maps, and timelines. Features reference content and commentary by renowned scholars in areas such as global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture, and is regularly updated as new content is commissioned and approved. Includes Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World.
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New Cambridge History of IslamThis unique historical reference compendium allows instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. With access to the most up to date and authoritative scholarly content, Cambridge Histories Online is an invaluable resource, for undergraduates, graduates, lecturers and researchers alike.All the available volumes are grouped into topics, making it quick and easy to search and browse through an array of historical subject areas. The extensive bibliographic referencing and other leading functionality, enhances usability and makes this resource ideal for any type of historical research.
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Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration This link opens in a new windowThe Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration provides a complete exploration of the prominent themes, events, and theoretical underpinnings of the movements of human populations from prehistory to the present day. It includes thematic interpretations and theories of migration, as well as the significant contemporary scientific discoveries and scholarly interpretations that have reshaped the way historians and social scientists analyze and map the past.
Primary Sources for History
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Afghanistan Digital LibraryThe immediate objective of the Afghanistan Digital Library is to retrieve and restore the first sixty years of Afghanistan’s published cultural heritage. The project is collecting, cataloging, digitizing, and making available over the Internet as many Afghan publications from the period 1871–1930 as it is possible to identify and locate. In addition to books, this will eventually include all published serials, documents, pamphlets, and manuals.
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Arab Film DistributionPerhaps the leading US distributor of Arabic language films. The UI Libraries holds many titles from their catalog.
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Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowArchives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level. Covers a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history. Collections are chosen for Archives Unbound based on requests from scholars, archivists, and students.
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Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 This link opens in a new windowConfidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 covers the whole of the modern period of European colonization of Africa: from coastal trading in the early nineteenth century, through the Conference of Berlin of 1884 and the subsequent Scramble for Africa, to the abuses of the Congo Free State, fights against tropical disease, Italy’s defeat by the Abyssinians, World War II, apartheid in South Africa and colonial moves towards independence. The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between c. 1820 and 1970, originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Documents range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties.
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Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 This link opens in a new windowConfidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 covers the whole of modern British involvement in North Africa and the Middle East: from the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the nineteenth century, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia and the Suez Crisis in 1956, to the partition of Palestine, post-Suez Western foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between c. 1820 and 1970, originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Documents range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties.
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Early Western Korans This link opens in a new windowKoran Printing in the West, 1537-1857. This collection of Early Printed Korans demonstrates what impact the holy book of Islam achieved in Europe.
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Empire Online This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and it's theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
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Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration, and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of global commodities in world history. The commodities featured in this resource have been transported, exchanged and consumed around the world for hundreds of years. They helped transform societies, global trading operations, habits of consumption and social practices.
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History of Afghanistan online This link opens in a new windowThe most important history of Afghanistan ever written (originally written in Persian), Sirāj al-tawārīkh or The History of Afghanistan. The roots of much of the fabric of Afghanistan’s society today—tribe and state relations, the rule of law, gender issues, and the economy—are elegantly and minutely detailed in this immense work.
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Middle East Microform Project (MEMP)The purpose of the Middle East Microform Project (MEMP) is to cooperatively acquire or produce microform and digital copies of unique, scarce, rare and unusually bulky and expensive research material pertaining to the field of Middle Eastern studies; and to preserve deteriorating printed and manuscript materials of scholarly value. UI researchers may borrow MEMP materials; contact the bibliographer for details.
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Jerusalem Post, 1932-2008 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowThe Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on 1 December 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post in the British Mandate of Palestine. During the Mandate period, the publication supported the struggle for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and openly opposed British policy restricting Jewish immigration. In 1950, two years after the State of Israel was declared, the paper was renamed The Jerusalem Post.
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U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009 This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive document set sheds light on the U.S. intelligence community’s spying and analytic efforts in the Arab world, including the Middle East, the Near East, and North Africa. It covers the time period from the end of World War II to the present day, up until the 2002-2003 Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) assessments, the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, and Iran’s nuclear program.
Subject Guide

Rachel Garza Carreón
Contact:
Religious Studies, Philosophy, Classics and Latino Native American Cultural Center
(319) 335-6441
Historical Dictionaries (Scarecrow Press)
Other Sources
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Foreign Policy Research InstituteForeign Policy Research Institute is devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests. We add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics.