ABSTRACT:
From as far back as the turn of the twentieth century, when Egypt was still under British occupation, women in Egypt have been utilizing music as a medium in order to speak out against injustice. This research examines the position of Arab women as composers from a historical and sociological perspective by providing content analysis of online magazine articles, newspaper articles and blogs in both English and Arabic. A literature review identifies a gap in the research, which is the lack of academic scholarship concerning individual Arab women composers and their accomplishments throughout history. Opportunities are identified for further research concerning the history of women in Arabic music over the past century. The article concludes with an argument that women in the Arab world have played a large role in shaping the history of music, and that contemporary Arab women composers continue to utilise music in order to create change.
MORE INFO ABOUT BOOK:
The Routledge Handbook of Women's Work in Music (1st Edition) was first published in 2021; Imprint Routledge; 9 pages; eBook ISBN9780429201080
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Zaina Shihabi is a researcher and IB Diploma Programme Coordinator currently teaching DP Theory of Knowledge and English Language & Literature at an IB World School in Malaysia. Her doctoral thesis (2019) was supervised by Dr. Laura Hamer (Music, The Open University) and Dr. Joseph Maslen (Education, Liverpool Hope University) and has been examined by Professor Pamela Burnard (Education, University of Cambridge) and Dr. Manuella Blackburn (Music, Keele University). Her current interests include researching learning theories and differentiated instruction. For more, see this link.