Engaging Modernity

Muslim Women and the Politics of Agency in Postcolonial Niger

Ousseina D. Alidou

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN:
  9780299212148
  9780299212100
• eBook ISBN:
  9780299212131
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

Engaging Modernity is Ousseina Alidou's rich and compelling portrait of Muslim women in Niger as they confront the challenges and opportunities of the twentieth century. Contrary to Western stereotypes of passive subordination, these women are taking control of their own lives and resisting domination from indigenous traditions, westernization, and Islam alike.
    Based on thorough scholarly research and extensive fieldwork—including a wealth of interviews—Alidou's work offers insights into the meaning of modernity for Muslim women in Niger. Mixing biography with sociological data, social theory and linguistic analysis, this is a multilayered vision of political Islam, education, popular culture, and war and its aftermath. A gripping look at one of the Muslim world's most powerful untold stories.

Runner-up for the Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize, Women's Caucus of the African Studies Association

Table of contents

• Contents
• Illustrations
• Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: Women, Education, and Epistemological Traditions
• Part 2: Women, Folklore, and Performative Identities
• Part 3: Women and Overt Political Contestation
• Appendix A: Abdoul Salam’s Dance Song Tigyedimma:Transregional and Transethnic Sahelian Brassage
• Appendix B: Biographical Sketch of Dr. Malama ZeinabSidi Baba Haidara
• Notes
• References
• Index