Overview
Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this book examines how contemporary secularism in France is positioned as a guarantor of women’s rights. Selby argues that the complex “fetishization” of headscarves in public, governmental, and feminist French discourse positions publicly-visible Muslim women in ways that obscure their engagement with laïcité (French secularism).
Full Product Details
Author: Jennifer Selby
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.450kg
ISBN: 9780230121010
ISBN 10: 0230121012
Pages: 247
Publication Date: 10 February 2012
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Combining rich ethnographic description and incisive theoretical analysis, Questioning French Secularismtakes on some of the most provocative issues of our time: religiosity, immigration, Islam in the West, and gender politics. In her forceful yet nuanced account, Selby reveals why the French model for secularism poses Muslim women's agency as a core challenge to the state and how this model fails to understand first-generation migrant women's political and religious practices. This engaging and highly readable book appeals to ethnography to answer the big theoretical and political questions of our time - a must-read for scholars and students pursuing research on religion, gender, migration, and nationalism. --Chantal Tetreault, assistant professor of Anthropology, Michigan State University
A thoughtful ethnography with appeal for researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates. Readers in this last category will appreciate the book's accessibility to those new to some of the theoretical discussions within scholarship on Islam, gender, and secularism in Europe. Selby weaves her references to theoretical debates into largely ethnographic prose that non-specialists will find easy to follow. Questioning French Secularism will be of as much interest to those studying migration and the politics of multiculturalism in an increasingly diverse Europe as it will be to readers studying Islam, secularism, North African diaspora, or social scientific approaches to religion more broadly. - Contemporary Islam Combining rich ethnographic description and incisive theoretical analysis, Questioning French Secularism takes on some of the most provocative issues of our time: religiosity, immigration, Islam in the West, and gender politics. In her forceful yet nuanced account, Selby reveals why the French model for secularism poses Muslim women's agency as a core challenge to the state and how this model fails to understand first-generation migrant women's political and religious practices. This engaging and highly readable book appeals to ethnography to answer the big theoretical and political questions of our time - a must-read for scholars and students pursuing research on religion, gender, migration, and nationalism. - Chantal Tetreault, assistant professor of Anthropology, Michigan State University
Combining rich ethnographic description and incisive theoretical analysis, Questioning French Secularismtakes on some of the most provocative issues of our time: religiosity, immigration, Islam in the West, and gender politics. In her forceful yet nuanced account, Selby reveals why the French model for secularism poses Muslim women's agency as a core challenge to the state and how this model fails to understand first-generation migrant women's political and religious practices. This engaging and highly readable book appeals to ethnography to answer the big theoretical and political questions of our time - a must-read for scholars and students pursuing research on religion, gender, migration, and nationalism. -Chantal Tetreault, assistant professor of Anthropology, Michigan State University
A thoughtful ethnography with appeal for researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates. Readers in this last category will appreciate the book's accessibility to those new to some of the theoretical discussions within scholarship on Islam, gender, and secularism in Europe. Selby weaves her references to theoretical debates into largely ethnographic prose that non-specialists will find easy to follow. Questioning French Secularism will be of as much interest to those studying migration and the politics of multiculturalism in an increasingly diverse Europe as it will be to readers studying Islam, secularism, North African diaspora, or social scientific approaches to religion more broadly. (Contemporary Islam)
Author Information
Jennifer A. Selby is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Memorial University, Canada. She studies Islam in the West, with a focus on secularism and gender politics in contemporary France and Canada.
