Date:
Mon, 21/05/201812:30-14:00
Location:
Room 2415, Faculty of Social Sciences
Lecturer:
Dr. Rawia Aburabia
Speaker: Dr. Rawia Aburabia
Dr. Rawia Aburabia will discuss her paper: EXCLUDED FROM THE LAW: THE CRIMINAL PROHIBITION AGAINST BIGAMY IN MANDATORY PALESTINE AND THE EXEMPTION OF MUSLIM
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to explore the criminal prohibition against polygamy during the British colonial rule of Palestine, and in particular the exemption that the Ordinance provided for Muslim Palestinians. Through archival research, the article will uncover the debates surrounding the legislation by analyzing the Criminal Code Ordinance through three separate lenses (political, religious and gendered) exploring the inconsistencies of the British approach towards polygamy, which on the one hand prohibited it as a matter of public and criminal law, yet on the other hand created a broad exemption by essentially relegating the matter to the less heavily regulated “private” sphere. In so doing, I argue, it expressed the intrinsic paradox of colonial regime that compromising gender equality to maintain political stability.