Dissertation Research: Gender Ideology and Practice: Comparing Experiences of Alternative Modernities among Women in Cairo, Egypt

宗教复兴运动往往是在社会和宗教多元化、文化变革和道德不确定的背景下出现的。 中东的社会气候，特别是埃及城市的社会气候，具有许多这些特征。 在现代的开罗，公民们遇到了关于什么样的互动形式、举止和着装在道德和社会上是合适的多种相互竞争的信息。 埃及传统的家庭、工作、性别关系和公共行为观念与其他（西方、伊斯兰和女权主义）意识形态的信仰和规范相冲突。 这篇论文的研究由心理人类学家从加州大学圣地亚哥分校研究的社会和心理世界的两组妇女生活在开罗今天：参与者在现代伊斯兰复兴和世俗女权主义团体的成员。 它探讨了妇女加入一个或另一个运动的动机，这种参与的好处和缺点，以及妇女在处理每个系统内的意识形态和实际压力时所采用的适应措施。 通过参与观察;该项目利用文化和宗教媒体;社会、健康和心理调查;以及密集的（以人为中心的）访谈，力求了解相互竞争的文化、政治和宗教意识形态及其对妇女的角色认知、行为和心理体验的影响。 它将研究现代社会运动中的矛盾和模糊性如何同时缓解并为参与者创造新的紧张局势。 这项研究将有助于人类学研究的各个领域，包括性别、现代性和心理文化适应，其更广泛的影响是有助于教育一名年轻的社会科学家;此外，我们对当代伊斯兰社会的了解将引起公众和决策者的广泛兴趣。

Religious revitalization movements tend to arise in contexts of social and religious pluralism, cultural change and moral uncertainty. The social climate in the Middle East in general, and in urban Egypt in particular, has many of these characteristics. In modern-day Cairo, citizens encounter multiple and competing messages about what forms of interaction, comportment and dress are morally and socially appropriate. Traditional Egyptian conceptions of family, work, gender relations, and public behavior come up against the conflicting beliefs and norms of alternative (Western, Islamist and feminist) ideologies. This dissertation research by a psychological anthropologist from the University of California at San Diego examines the social and psychological worlds of two groups of women living in Cairo today: participants in the modern Islamic revival and members of a secular feminist group. It explores women's motivations to join one movement or the other, the benefits and drawbacks of that participation, and the adaptations women employ in dealing with ideological and practical stresses within each system. Through participant observation; use of cultural and religious media; social, health and psychological surveys; and intensive (person-centered) interviews, the project seeks to understand the competing cultural, political and religious ideologies and their impact on women's perceived roles, behavior and psychological experience. It will examine the ways in which contradictions and ambiguities within modern social movements may simultaneously assuage and create new tensions for participants. The research will contribute to diverse areas of anthropological inquiry including gender, modernity and psychocultural adaptation.The broader impacts of the study is in its contribution to the education of a young social scientist; in addition the advance in our knowledge of contemporary Islamic society will be of broad interest to the public and to decision makers.