Gender and Identity Construction ─ Women of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey

Dealing with issues and problems of national and gender identity, 15 articles by international scholars from a variety of disciplines address experiences and positions of women in relation to state intervention and to economic, political, and cultural change in both the public and private spheres. Women's conditions and experiences are analyzed on three levels: first, the economic and institutional circumstances shaped by structural adjustment policies, globalization, and transnational policies; second, the realities of everyday life in the context of family, religion, tradition, and education; third; politics and ideology in which national and nationalist discourses build on a gender identity shaped by economic and social influences. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Feride Acar is Professor of Political Sociology and Chair of Gender and Women's Studies in Middle East Technical University. She has received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College, USA. She has published and co-edited books and numerous articles on women in education; women's human rights and women and Islam.Ayse Gunes-Ayata is Professor of Political Science in Middle East Technical University and Chair of the Center for Black Sea and Central Asia. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Kent, UK. Besides her books, she has published articles on political parties, identity politics, gender issues and urbanization.