Sisters in the Mirror

Who gets to speak for Muslim women? Elora Shehabuddin turns that question into a sweeping history, showing that feminism in the West and in Muslim South Asia grew up in conversation rather than in isolation.

First published by University of California Press in 2021, this award-winning study pushes back against the familiar claim that the Muslim world is feminism's last frontier. Shehabuddin, who teaches Gender and Women's Studies and Global Studies at UC Berkeley, follows encounters between Bengali, British and later American women and men, from the Enlightenment through colonial rule to the War on Terror. She ties shifts in women's lives and activist strategies to larger changes in politics and the economy, and gives room to solidarity as well as conflict.

What readers will find inside:
• A connected history of Muslim and Western feminisms
• Bengal at the centre, with Britain and the United States as counterparts
• Famous and little-known figures who challenged gender norms
• A critical look at how Western ideas about Muslim women shaped politics

Essential for students of history, gender studies and South Asia. This South Asia edition is distributed by The University Press Limited and available at Boipoka.