The question of women’s role in Islam has been increasingly debated in recent years, even within the Muslim diaspora. This book explores cultural pluralities, their effect on women’s lives, and women’s role in questioning and/or shaping their identities. The questions that we are asking in this book about feminism and multiculturalism are questions that are being asked in many communities across the United States and throughout the world.
How do feminism and multiculturalism work together? Can multiculturalism coexist with feminist principles? Does respect for cultural traditions take precedence over women’s rights? Should outsiders interfere with traditional cultural practices? How are transplanted cultures affected by or shaped by their transplanting? How do women of color create gender and racial identity in and outside of mainstream American culture? The contributors to this book represent some of the most important voices in this discussion and include Nurah Ammat’ullah, Jane Kramer, Robina Niaz, Manizha Naderi, Katha Pollitt, Madhulika Khandelwal, Eugenia Paulicelli, and Gail Garfield. In this book they are in dialogue with each other, asking questions and responding to questions, giving different perspectives, and providing or attempting to provide answers. If readers do not find all of the answers they are looking for in these pages, they are certain to gain new perspectives on the questions. And sometimes that is the only way to begin to find answers.
