The dominant canon of gender studies and feminist theory has largely been shaped by Western feminist scholarship which has tended to overlook the experiences and perspectives of women from non-Western societies, including those from the Middle East and North Africa. When non-Western feminist struggles as well as transnational travels of critical concepts have been added to the story and to the curricula, nonetheless, the master narrative of the origins of feminism and its universalist claim have hardly changed. This approach of simply supplementing “other” experiences has not only led to a limited and distorted understanding of the complex ways in which gender operates in the region as well as of the diverse feminist movements and practices that have emerged in response to local contexts, it has also influenced the study of gender in the universities of the area. Moreover, it has contributed to a decontextualized understanding of Western feminist theories as unmarked by colonial and postcolonial power asymmetries. This round-table presents, for discussion, a project in progress: a new Handbook on gender and feminism in the Middle East and North Africa. Based on editorial experience and research that engages with the work of scholars and activists from the MENA region centering their perspectives and knowledge produced in the region, the project for a new textbook for teaching feminist theory and gender in Middle Eastern studies aims at addressing these questions. First, drawing from insights in global history as well as area studies, the Handbook seeks to provide deeper comprehension of the emergence of feminist theory and critique from specific sites of contention and debate in the MENA region and traces its different political, intellectual and institutional itineraries. It thus makes accessible the rich and diverse history of feminist thought and activism which has often been ignored or misrepresented in Western scholarship. At the same time, the textbook will pursue the movement to more systematically locate Western second-wave feminisms in their global entanglements. Suggesting a different conceptual framework for teaching feminist theory and gender studies, the Handbook moves beyond much needed attempts at challenging dominant narratives and assumptions about gender, including, among other central themes, the nexus of gender and religion in the MENA region.