University of Chicago Press Zina, Transnational Feminism, and the Moral Regulation of Pakistani Women

The Zina Ordinance is part of the Hadood Ordinances that werepromulgated in 1979 by the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq,self-proclaimed president of Pakistan. Since then, tens of thousands ofPakistani women have been charged and incarcerated under the ordinance,which governs illicit sex. Shahnaz Khan argues that the zina laws helpsituate morality within the individual, thus de-emphasizing theprevalence of societal injustice. She also examines the production andreception of knowledge in the west about women in the third world andconcludes that transnational feminist solidarity can challengeoppressive practices internationally. Review "Khan's emphasis on reading zina laws within a larger politicized context, her problematization of the role of the native informant, and her argument to transcend binary thinking gives a cutting edge to this important work. An excellent book for those in the fields of gender studies, Muslim women, Orientalism, and global politics." - Parin Dossa, author of Politics and Poetics of Migration: Narratives of Iranian Women in the Diaspora" From the Inside Flap The Zina Ordinance is part of the Hadood Ordinances that were promulgated in 1979 by the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, a self-proclaimed president of Pakistan. Over a five-year-period, Shahnaz Khan interviewed women incarcerated under the zina laws. From the Back Cover The Zina Ordinance is part of the Hadood Ordinances that were promulgated in 1979 by the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, a self-proclaimed president of Pakistan. Over a five-year-period, Shahnaz Khan interviewed women incarcerated under the zina laws. About the Author Shahnaz Khan is a professor in the Women’sStudies/Global Studies Program at Wilfrid Laurier University.