Islamic Law and Sexuality Conference 9th – 11th January 2018, University of Exeter

This two day workshop aims to investigate questions of Islamic law and sexuality, broadly conceived, including but not limited to such subjects as il/legitimate sex, communal perceptions of sexuality, marriage, sexual violence, gender, concubinage and sexual consent.  We are interested in shifting patterns of argumentation and in the formation of legal categories; how did pre-modern jurists conceptualise the legitimate expression of sexuality, for example?  How have these boundaries shifted in the modern period?  How have modern jurists and others drawn on the legacy of the past in thinking through these questions?  And what are some of the fundamental dynamics underlying these processes of change?  Our papers address the construction of these categories and their reformulation in the modern period.  For the purposes of this workshop we are concerned with the fiqhī heritage itself as well as its representation and deployment in modern legal argument.  What did pre-modern jurists think about these subjects and how has thinking changed or otherwise; if so, what explains these dis/continuities?

Keynote lecture to be delivered by Kecia Ali.