Some observations on women in Omani sources

Contenu

Titre

Some observations on women in Omani sources

Créateur

Andriyanova, Olga Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Date

2011

Dans

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Résumé

In the field of Omani studies, a relatively young historical discipline, no serious academic research on the political, social, and cultural role of women in the history of Oman has yet been undertaken. This can be explained by the nature, preservation, and availability of source material. The present contribution attempts to combine existing approaches towards women's history, elaborated with reference to material from other parts of the Middle East, with first-hand primary sources collected in Oman, in order to stimulate further research in this underexplored field. After a short historiographical review, three types of available sources are revealed. Biographical dictionaries provide us with long lists of women renowned for their knowledge and piety, thus raising the issue of female religious education in Oman. Works of Omani historians such as Kasẖf al-gẖummah. attributed to Sirḥān al-Azkawī, or Alfath al-mubīn by Ibn Ruzayq are seemingly 'male-oriented'. However they throw some light on women's roles in the political life of the country and, vice versa, on the impact of the turbulent Omani history on women's lives from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Finally, legal documents from private collections (wills and acts attesting the purchase of property) elucidate women's relatively active participation in local economic life and women's importance in the matters of charity, education, and general wellbeing of the community.

Langue

eng

volume

41

pages

1-12

issn

0308-8421

Andriyanova, Olga, “Some observations on women in Omani sources”, 2011, bibliographie, consulté le 7 septembre 2024, https://ibadica.org/s/bibliographie/item/9215