Voices and veils

de Anna Kemp

In recent years, the figure of the Muslim Woman has loomed large over mainstream feminist debate in France. Cast alternately as a Frenchwoman-in-the-making or a veiled threat, the Muslim Woman has become emblematic of France{u2019}s relationship to those identified as its cultural others. But throughout these debates, and in spite of their scale and passion, one view has been glaringly absent: the view of French Muslim women themselves. Drawing on sociological, polemical and literary writings, this thoughtful and wide-ranging study examines the unacknowledged colonial roots of French feminist discourses on Islam and femininity, before bringing to light examples of French Muslim women{u2019}s writing and activism that suggest alternative ways of being both French and a feminist.