Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis
I’ve mentioned this book before, with a long quote from the introduction. Moghissi is an Iranian ex-pat dismayed by what she sees as Western academic apologism for the misogynist aspects of the wave of Islamization that swept Muslim countries generally in the 80s and 90s, as well as for the low status of women in revolutionary Islamist states themselves (particularly Iran). She challenges the notion that secularist democracy and equalitarian feminism should be seen as culturally inappropriate or for Middle Eastern peoples, and attempts to map out a method for critiqueing the status of women in Muslim nations without playing into Orientalist imagery or anti-Muslim bigotry. Moghissi is especially skeptical of the enthusiasm for Islamic feminism when it is treated not as a necessary resistance strategy for women living in Islamist states, but as the only appropriate mode of feminist consciousness for women in Muslim nations in general. Moghissi herself sees strict limits on how much the status of women can be improved from within Islamic tradition, and so favors secularization as the best method of accomplishing feminist goals. It’s an interesting read and serves as a good introduction to the range of thought among Muslim and ex-Muslim women on feminism and Islam.