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Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this book analyzes public discourses on secularism in France to consider how Islam becomes subsumed under the fetishized headscarf, how women's bodies come to represent collective identities, and how the activism and engagement of suburban Muslim women with secular politics is ignored.

Questioning French Secularism: Gender Politics and Islam in a Parisian Suburb

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE: PLACE AND METHOD Gender Politics and Religion in Contemporary France Fieldwork Context: Working and Living in Petit Nanterre Methodological Considerations: On Writing about Muslim Women PART II: 'HARDLY PARADISE': FROM SHANTYTOWN TO HOUSING PROJECT Migration to the Banlieues of Paris Religious Geography Gender Politics and Sexual Segregation Divisions Community-Based Organizations 2005 Suburban Riots PART III: THE SHIFTING BOUNDARIES OF LAICITE Secularism: General Remarks Secularism: The French Case Commissioned Secularism in Contemporary France Secularism: The Pork Affair in Petit Nanterre PART IV: FEMINISM, FEMININITY, AND LAICITE Femmes Solidaires ('Women in Solidarity') French Femininity: Stereotypes Gossip PART V: MARRIAGE-PARTNER PREFERENCE AND MIGRATION TO PETIT NANTERRE Journeys to Petit Nanterre Implications for 'Disfavored' Women Second-Generation Women Respond Implications PART VI: ON BEING A VISIBLY RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN FRANCE Continued French Colonialism? Feminist Critiques and Practicing Religious Women General Conclusion