Labors of Love

Susanna Ferguson is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Smith College.

Note on Translation Introduction: Seeing Women's Work 1. Childrearing as Civilization 2. Childrearing as Social Theory 3. Childrearing as Embodied Labor 4. Childrearing as Liberation 5. Childrearing as Anticolonial Temporality 6. Childrearing as Democracy's Foundation Conclusion: Feminizing Reproductive Labor Acknowledgments Appendix: Women-Edited Arabic Periodicals, 1892-1939 Notes Bibliography Index

"With innovation and bravery, Susanna Ferguson places the theorists of mothering, childrearing, and upbringing in their rightful place, at the center of intellectual and economic thought. Alongside thinkers like Labiba Hashim and Julia Dimashqiyya, she offers new ways of understanding the concepts that constitute the modern era: growth, time, and sexuality."-Sherene Seikaly, University of California, Santa Barbara "Labors of Love beautifully traces a key concept of the Nahda, the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Arabic knowledge movement: tarbiya. Signifying child raising and education, the term nurtured discussions about the moral basis of society and brought women thinkers into political engagement. Methodologically sophisticated, and clearly written, this trailblazing book with its focus on gendered formations of discourse and activism reframes critical questions at the intersections of Middle East studies, gender history, post/colonial analysis, and the history of education and childhood."-Marilyn Booth, University of Oxford "Labors of Love offers a fresh and interesting perspective on gender and the rise of the modern Arab world. Susanna Ferguson has told a much neglected story that still permeates the Arab world today, but, as she is at pains to point out, is not unique to the Arab world, rather is part of a global story. While the story is intensely local, it is not a tale of exceptionising or exoticising the Arab world or Arab women; the book is nuanced, detailed well-researched and easy to read."-Usman Butt, Middle East Monitor "Labors of Love: Gender, Capitalism, and Democracy in Modern Arab Thoughtis a groundbreaking work by Susanna Ferguson. This book is particularly significant as it brings a unique perspective to studying gender and socioeconomic structures in the Arab world."-Jwahr Alotaibi, H-Ethnic