FORMER STAFF MEMBERS
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Kecia Ali
alikecia@brandeis.edu
Kecia Ali worked as a Senior Research Analyst for the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project from 2001-2003. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University, with a dissertation entitled "Money, Sex, and Power: The Contractual Nature of Marriage in Islamic Jurisprudence of the Formative Period." In it, she demonstrates that early Muslim jurists were influenced, in their formulation of marriage law, by norms governing both commerce and slavery. She argues that the system of interdependent spousal rights and obligations they developed is inherently hierarchical and cannot be modified piecemeal to accomodate the egalitarian aspirations of many contemporary Muslims.
Aside from her research and writing on Islamic law, she frequently lectures on topics related to women and gender in Islamic discourses and Muslim societies. Articles include "Rethinking Women's Issues in Muslim Communities" in the recently released Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim Their Faith (Rodale Press, 2002) and "Progressive Muslims and Islamic Law: The Necessity for Critical Engagement with Classical Marriage and Divorce Law" in Omid Safi, ed., Progressive Muslims (forthcoming in Spring 2003 from Oneworld Publications).
Kecia Ali is currently a Research Associate with the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. (http://www.hds.harvard.edu/wsrp/people/01-02ras.htm)
Listen to an interview with Kecia Ali on Minnesota Public Radio.
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Raja El Habti
fse_project@brandeis.edu
Raja El Habti developed the Arabic language pages on the FSE web site (2002-2003). She holds undergraduate and doctorate degrees in Arabic literature from Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, as well as a master's degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, where she focused on issues facing Muslim women. Prior to her arrival at Brandeis, Ms. El Habti worked as a journalist in Morocco and was active with North African women's organizations. Her current interests center on topics of gender and Islamic law and scriptural interpretation.
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Gail Labovitz
fse_project@brandeis.edu
Gail Labovitz is currently Assistant Professor of Rabbinics at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.
As a Senior Research Analyst (AY 2002-2003), Labovitz developed material on Judaism for the FSE Project. She received her doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2002, and was also ordained as a rabbi there in 1992. Her dissertation, "My Wife I Called 'My House': Marriage, Metaphor, and Discourses of Gender in Rabbinic Literature," explored the use of ownership metaphors ("women are ownable," "marriage is an acquisition of property") in rabbinic texts of late antiquity to construct marriage, and by extension, gender and gender relations. Her publications and conference presentations have also explored images of the nursing mother in early rabbinic sources, slavery and marriage in rabbinic thought, and the use of rabbinic sources for the study of women and gender in late antiquity. She has taught at JTS and at the Academy for Jewish Religion.
Concurrent with her research for the FSE, Labovitz coordinated the Jewish Feminist Research Group, a project of the Jewish Women's Studies Program at JTS, and taught adult education through the Kollel program of the Hebrew Union College.
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Mini Singh
fse_project@brandeis.edu
Mini Singh researched and wrote the Contemporary Slavery material for the FSE web site in 2003. She is a recent graduate of the master's program in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis University. Her coursework has focused on Human Rights Based Development, Gender Planning and Analysis and Research and Advocacy. She conducted her master's thesis with the UN South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme (SAPAP) and evaluated the gender components of the program in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. A citizen of India, Mini holds an MSW from the Delhi School of Social Work and has 6 years of experience in the field of gendered human development. Her work experience includes a World Bank consultancy as a gender specialist, qualitative research and evaluation assignments with the UN, and independent research with ActionAid and Brandeis University.
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Other Former Staff:
Other former members of the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project research team include Carly Daniel-Hughes (2000-2001), Tracey Hurd (2000-2001), Laura Hymson (2000-2001), Leslie Caroline Kelly (2002), Dawn Robinson Rose (2000-2001), Meera Sethi (2000-2002), and Humaira Zafar (2002).
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