How do Muslim men and women in Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran
find love, security and affection?  What can it mean to be Muslim and
female?  How does Islam shape ideas about masculinity?  How are cross-
dressing and transsexuality practiced in Iraq, Pakistan, Zanzibar,
and India?  What can cross-cultural study tell us about our own
approaches to love, gender, hardship, and success?  Focusing on ideas
about gender, love, and family, and using several kinds of
information (life histories, ethnographies, fiction, and film) that
highlight the diversity of human experience in specific Islamic
contexts, we will look at the practices and beliefs that give broadly
common shape to the "Islamic world" as well as to the diverse ways
that Muslims themselves interpret what being Muslim -- transgendered,
female, or male -- can mean.  Through reflexive approaches, we will
also examine the gendered, cultural and religious dimensions of our
own lives, and gain important insights into what it means to be
human, wherever or whoever we are.