Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. During my sophomore year of college, I had the life-changing experience of studying abroad for five months at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. My university was able to build a campus in Jerusalem under the strict condition that its students would

maintain strict political neutrality regarding the conflict in the region. And so everyone in my

student cohort was required to take classes on both Arab civilization and Jewish civilization

and on Judaism and Islam. And we went on field trips all over Israel and Palestine and

also Egypt and Jordan. And we had to split evenly between students studying Arabic language

and students studying Hebrew. So my cohort and myself, we all came home with a deep love for all of the people and families that we met.

And also a deep grief about the history and the ongoing tragedy in that beautiful place.

And I still have little blue bowls that are painted with flowers that I bought from a Palestinian man named Shaban in East Jerusalem.

I still eat out of those bowls,

and I remember the kindness and goodness of those people that I loved there. But while I still

retain memories and I have followed the political situation in the region throughout my life,

never until this year had I thought specifically about women's rights and women's activism in Palestine.

So I was really excited to find the book Palestinian women's activism, nationalism, secularism, Islamism, by Dr. Isla Jod.

And I am honored to welcome Dr. Jod to the podcast today. Welcome, Isla.

Thank you so much for being here.

It's my pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

So I'm wondering if you can introduce us first to yourself.

Tell us a little bit about you, where you're from, your family, and the work that you do.

Well, I have been working at Buzzi University since 1984.

And so then I was a lecturer and then associate professor in general studies.

Originally, I'm from Egypt.

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