Description
Book SynopsisA must read.CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2022 Holds up a mirror to the unifying, braided futures underlying so-called 'Western' and 'Muslim' feminism that are both undermined by the power of capital, the world trade order, and cynical geopolitics.2023 Association for Asian Studies Coomaraswamy Book PrizeA crystal-clear account of the entangled history of Western and Muslim feminisms. Western feminists, pundits, and policymakers tend to portray the Muslim world as the last and most difficult frontier of global feminism. Challenging this view, Elora Shehabuddin presents a unique and engaging history of feminism as a story of colonial and postcolonial interactions between Western and Muslim societies. Muslim women, like other women around the world, have been engaged in their own struggles for generations: as individuals and in groups that include but also extend beyond their religious identity and religious practices. The modern and globally enmeshed Muslim world they navigate
Trade Review“Using vignettes as the literary device of choice, Shehabuddin brings readers directly into the lives of these women, a rare treat in itself. She crafts a multi-angled history of feminism that includes women from two colonial countries and Bengali women from the Enlightenment to the present. Many readers of Indian or Pakistani history will be amazed at the quality of research and the connections uncovered in this text. . . . This is an extraordinary and exemplary use of vignettes to sustain women's voices over centuries and highlight interconnectedness, intimacy, and global awareness. . . . A must-read.”
* Choice *
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Sisters in the Mirror breaks the pattern of using the anglophone feminist scholarship as the preamble for any work about gender studies. The choice of sources is bold and thought-provoking. Through the fluid narrative of the book, these isolated examples are knit together to highlight the challenges of Islamophobia today and its historical roots.” * Gender, Place and Culture *
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Sisters in the Mirror provides us with a new way to read and interpret the centuries-old Western-Muslim binary that has been historically constructed, fiercely debated and politically used in favour of colonialism and imperialism." * South Asian History and Culture *
"This foundational text marks a significant contribution to feminist debates and Muslim women's writing and is an incredible resource for students and researchers working in the field of global/transnational feminism and South Asian Muslim women. It provides a compact history of contemporary women's rights movements in the West and beyond.” * The Daily Star *
"This book offers a rich and interesting discussion of the impact of Western feminism on Muslim women. . . .The most important contribution of this book is that it reminds us that the most effective struggle for a more just world can be through struggles arising from solidarity, understanding and knowledge sharing." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1 • Muslims of the East
2 • Soulless Seraglios in the Grievances of Englishwomen
3 • Gospel, Adventure, and Introspection in an Expanding Empire
4 • Feminism and Empire
5 • Writing Feminism, Writing Freedom
6 • In the Shadow of the Cold War
7 • Encounters in Global Feminism
8 • In Search of Solidarity across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
