A sociologist trained at the Sorbonne and Brandeis, Mernissi wrote in French and English about gender, Islam, and the harem; her best-known book in English is Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (1994). Beyond the Veil (1975) and The Veil and the Male Elite (1991) are foundational texts of Islamic feminist thought.
Recurring themes
Islamic feminism
the harem as memory
sociology of Moroccan women
the Western imagination of the harem
Selected works
- 1975Beyond the Veil
- 1991The Veil and the Male Elite
- 1994Dreams of Trespass
- 2001Scheherazade Goes West