Women in Muslim Africa

On 21 and 22 September the workshop Global and Local Political Debates over Women’s Rights, and Everyday Life in Muslim Africa, jointly organised by the CRGs Collaboration and Contestation in Words and Africa in the World, will take place. This workshop will include a public keynote lecture by Dr Joseph Hill, entitled: Muslim Women’s Interpretive Authority Reconsidered: Everyday interpretation among female Islamic leaders in Senegal.

To coincide with these events, the ASCL Library has compiled a web dossier on women in Muslim Africa, including titles on Muslim women’s rights, everyday lives, and global and local political discourses around this subject. It consists of titles from the ASCL Library Catalogue, complemented by sources available through the broader Leiden University Library collection. Titles link to the corresponding record in the online catalogue, providing  abstracts and full text links, where available. The web dossier concludes with a selection of links to relevant websites.

To receive updates on scientific publications on this subject, subscribe to the ASCL Library alert service and indicate "women" and “Islam” under free search terms.

Introduction | General | Muslim women's rights and legal debates | Muslim women's lived experiences | Global and local discourses | Web resources

Introduction

All across the world, political debates over women’s rights and emancipation figure widely in the headlines of media outlets. Family legislation in particular has often led and continues to lead to fierce contestations between the State and religious authorities. Why do such contestations keep flaring up? What are the global and local forces that shape these debates today? The vehement nature of these public discussions has ensured wide attention, both from scholars and in popular media. Yet, what has often remained underexplored are the links between such debates and people’s everyday lives. So how do these debates relate to people’s everyday experiences and changing modalities of being Muslim?

The workshop Global and Local Political Debates over Women’s Rights, and Everyday Life in Muslim Africa aims to turn away from the headlines to focus on the women and men who are the subject of these debates. It seeks to explore how people’s everyday engagements co-constitute these discourses and attempts to gain a more complete understanding of the relations between the local and global forces that shape them.

Although public debates on gender contribute to the tensions that people navigate in their day-to-day lives, they do not determine them. The links between intricate public polemics, often fuelled by national and global political dynamics and everyday life, are complex. What are the connections and disconnections between such debates and the ways in which people shape their lives and engage with others on a daily basis?

The public keynote lecture by Dr Joseph Hill, University of Alberta, focuses on female leaders in the Fayḍa Tijāniyya Sufi community in Senegal who swiftly, and strikingly uncontroversially, took on visible leadership roles starting around 2000. Understanding today’s broader religious and social changes requires looking beyond the few interpretations that get recorded in the formal exegetical literature, and Dr. Hill’s analysis draws on an ethnographic study to observe gendered exegesis as a daily social activity in which diverse players interpret authoritatively in day-to-day encounters. Dr Hill's previous explanations of this phenomenon downplayed textual debates in favour of observing how people subtly reconfigure established norms to accommodate changing social realities. Still, as he shows, exegesis of the Quran and other texts remains an important means for women to justify, understand, and shape their authority.

The literature and other sources in this web dossier offer a background against which these important issues can be viewed and explored further.

General

Approaches to the Qur'an in sub-Saharan Africa/ Zulfikar Amir Hirji (ed.)
Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press ; London : The Institute of Ismali Studies, 2019.

Etat, religions et genre en Afrique occidentale et centrale : actes du colloque International organisé à l'Institut de la Dignité et des Droits Humains (IDDH) du Centre de Recherche et d'Action pour la paix (CERAP), à Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) du 1er au 2 juin 2017/ Ludovic Lado and Roch Yao Gnabéli (eds.)
Mankon, Bamenda : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2019.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/1e3kn0k/TN_cdi_projectmuse_ebooks_9789956550661

Genre et fondamentalismes/ Fatou Sow (ed.)
Dakar, Sénégal : CODESRIA, Conseil pour le Développement de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales en Afrique, 2018.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/18s393l/alma9939573910502711

Being and becoming : gender, culture and shifting identity in Sub-Saharan Africa/ Chinyere Ukpokolo (ed.)
Denver, CO : Spears Media Press, 2016.

Special issue: Women, religion, and security/ Elaine Salo and Fatima Seedat (eds.)
In: Agenda (2016), vol. 30, no. 3

État, sociétés et islam au Sénégal : un air de nouveau temps?/ Abdourahmane Seck, Mayke Kaag, Cheikh Guèye and Abdou Salam Fall (eds.)
Paris [etc.] : Karthala [etc.], 2015.

Islamic Africa : a select, annotated webography/ Peter Limb.
In: Islamic Africa (2014), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 91-102

Women in Islam : SIHA journal/ SIHA Network.
Kampala, Uganda : Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, 2014.

Islam in Africa South of the Sahara : essays in gender relations and political reform/ Pade Badru and Brigid M. Sackey (eds.)
Lanham, MD [etc.] : The Scarecrow Press, 2013.

Féminismes islamiques/ Stéphanie Latte Abdallah.
In: Remmm (2010), vol. 128
https://doi.org/10.4000/remmm.6566

La femme selon la vision islamique en Afrique noire/ Marième Habib Diagne.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2010.

Muslim West Africa in the age of neoliberalism/ Marie Nathalie LeBlanc and Benjamin F. Soares (eds.)
Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2008.
https://doi.org/10.2979/aft.2008.54.3.vii

Genre, inégalités et religion : actes du premier colloque inter-réseaux du programme thématique: Aspects de l'État de droit et démocratie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), Dakar, 25-27 avril 2006/ Amsatou Sow Sidibé and Charles Becker (eds.)
Paris : Éditions des archives contemporaines, 2007.

A Mulher no Isslam : volume II/ Aminuddin Mohamad.
Maputo : Istituto Isslâmico Hamza, Cidade da Matola Moçambique, 2002.
https://www.asclibrary.nl/docs/9940163306402711.pdf

Women and gender in Islam : historical roots of a modern debate/ Leila Ahmed.
New Haven [etc.] : Yale University Press, 1992.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/n95gpj/UBL_ALMA51364472260002711

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Muslim women's rights and legal debates

Family law in Senegal: opposition and pragmatic pluralism/ Annelien Bouland.
In: Canadian Journal of African Studies (2022), vol. 56, no. 1, p.161-180
https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2020.1848599 (Free access)

Advancing the legal status of women in Islamic law/ Mona Samadi.
Leiden ; Boston : Brill Nijhoff, 2021.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/18s393l/alma9939832619802711

Application of Muslim family law as a form of customary law in Accra, Ghana/ Fulera Issaka-Toure.
In: Islamic Africa (2021), vol.11, no. 2, p.232-251

Femmes tunisiennes, waqf et droit de propriété à l'époque moderne : XVIIIe - XIXe siècles/ Salem Salah.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2021.

Law, religion and family in Africa/ Martha Christian Green, Faith Kabata (eds.), Elias Kifon Bongmba, Thomas Jeremy Gunn, Loreen Maseno and Fortune Sibanda (associate eds.)
Stellenbosch, South Africa : Africa Sun Media the Sun Press imprint, 2021.

Special issue: Current perspectives on Islamic family law in Africa/ Fulera Issaka-Toure and Ousseina D. Alidou (eds.)
Islamic Africa (2021), vol. 11, no. 2
https://brill.com/view/journals/iafr/11/2/iafr.11.issue-2.xml?language=en

Trajectories in Muslim family law reform in South Africa/ Fatima Seedat.
In: Journal for Islamic Studies (2021), vol. 39, no. 1, p. 49-61

Écrits sur l'islam/ Djibo Hamani.
Niamey : Editions Gashingo, 2020.

Women’s rights and shariʿa law in the MENA region/ Vera Lomazzi.
In: Migrants and religion: paths, issues, and lenses : a multidisciplinary and multi-sited study on the role of religious belongings in migratory and integration processes / Laura Zanfrini (ed.) Leiden: Brill, 2020, p. 231-250 (2020)

Islamic law of succession in relation to women/ Mohammed Sani. Husein.
In: Ilorin Journal of Religious Studies (2019), vol. 9, no. 1, p. 37-52

Lutter contre les mariages précoces par l'autonomisation des filles/ Aïssa Diarra.
Niamey : LASDEL, 2019.

Women's right to inheritance in Africa : the Nigerian experience/ Abdulrazaq Adelodun Daibu, Sekinat Arikewuyo Daibu and Juliet Aimienrovbiye.
In: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal (2018), vol. 6, no. 1, p. 28-56

Family law reform in Sudan : competing claims for gender justice between sharia and women’s human rights/ Sāmiyah al-Hādī Naqar and Liv Tønnessen.
Bergen : Chr. Michelsen Institute, 2017.

Women's activism in Africa : struggles for rights and representation/ Balghis Badri and Aili Mari Tripp (eds.)
London : Zed Books, 2017.

L'héritage des femmes : réflexions pluri-disciplinaires sur l'héritage au Maroc/ Siham Benchekroun (ed.)
Casablanca : Empreintes Editions, 2016.

Rights and challenges of women's participation in politics in Nigeria : Islamic law perspective/ Hanafi A. Hammed.
In: East African Journal of Peace & Human Rights (2015), vol. 21, no. 1, p. 158-182

Gender and divorce law in North Africa : sharia, custom and the personal status code in Tunisia/ Maaike Voorhoeve.
London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2014.

Pious and critical : Muslim women activists and the question of agency/ Rachel Rinaldo.
In: Gender & Society (2014), vol. 28, no. 6, p. 824-846

L'article 571 du Code de la famille, les successions musulmanes et le système juridique sénégalais/ Abdoul Aziz Diouf.
In: Nouvelles annales africaines : revue de la Faculté des Sciences Juridiques et Politiques (2013), no. 4, p. 241-289

Le nouveau Code de la famille et des personnes au Mali : la victoire à la Pyrrhus du Haut Conseil Islamique et de son président, l'ayatollah Mahamoud Dicko/ Dianguina Tounkara.
In: Penant : revue de droit des pays d'Afrique (2013), année 123, no. 882, p. 58-78

L'Islam et la modernité dans le droit de la famille au Maghreb : étude comparative, Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie/ Mariam Monjid.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2013.

Muslim women in postcolonial Kenya : leadership, representation, and social change/ Ousseina Alidou.
Madison, WI : The University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.

Educating Muslim women and the Izala movement in Zaria city, Nigeria/ Elisha P Renne.
In: Islamic Africa (2012), vol. 3, no. 1, p. 55-86

Family law reform in Mali: contentious debates and elusive outcomes/ Benjamin F. Soares.
In: Gender and Islam in Africa : rights, sexuality, and law / Margot Badran (ed.) Stanford, CA [etc.] : Stanford University Press [etc.], 2011, p. 263-290

Gender and Islam in Africa : rights, sexuality, and law/ Margot Badran (ed.)
Stanford, CA [etc.] : Stanford University Press [etc.], 2011.

[Muslim marriages in South Africa : from constitution to legislation : papers presented at Muslim marriages workshop, Saturday 22 May 2010, Capetonian Hotel]/ Abdulkader Tayob (ed.)
Western Cape : Centre for Contemporary Islam, University of Cape Town, 2011.

Contexte de la réforme du Code de la famille au Sénégal/ Penda Mbow.
In: Droit et cultures : revue semestrielle d'anthropologie et d'histoire (2010), no. 59, p. 87-96
https://doi.org/10.4000/droitcultures.1963

Le droit au divorce des femmes (khulʿ) en islam : pratiques différentielles en Mauritanie et en Égypte/ Corinne Fortier.
In: Droit et cultures : revue semestrielle d'anthropologie et d'histoire (2010), no. 59, p. 59-83
https://doi.org/10.4000/droitcultures.1950

Muslim family law in Sub-Saharan Africa : colonial legacies and post-colonial challenges/ Shamil Jeppie, Ebrahim Moosa and Richard Roberts (eds.)
Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Secular states, Muslim law and Islamic religious culture : gender implications of legal struggles in hybrid legal systems in contemporary West Africa/ Barbara M. Cooper.
In: Droit et cultures : revue semestrielle d'anthropologie et d'histoire (2010), no. 59, p. 97-120
https://doi.org/10.4000/droitcultures.1982

Muslim women reformers : inspiring voices against oppression/ Ida Lichter.
Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2009.

Women's organisations seeking gender justice in the Sudan 1964-1985/ Asma Mohamed Abdel Halim (ed.)
In: Review of African Political Economy (2009), vol. 36, no. 121, p. 389-407
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756288 (Restricted access)

Law reform in Sudan : collection of workshop papers/ Akolda M. Tier and Balghis Badri (eds.)
[Omdurman] : Ahfad University for Women, 2008.

Consensus : combating gender based violence through Islam, tradition and law/ Marion Baumgart dos Santos.
Zomba, Malawi : Kachere Series, 2006.

Islam and women's sexual health and rights in Senegal/ Codou Bop.
In: Muslim World Journal of Human Rights (2005), vol.2, no. 1, p. 1-30

Sharia penal and family laws in Nigeria and in the Muslim world : rights based approach/ Jibrin Ibrahim.
Nigeria : Global Rights, 2004.

Unveiling the mind : a herstory of the historical evolution of the legal position of women in Islam/ Najma Moosa.
Bellville : University of the Western Cape, 2004.

How women's rights affect fertility : evidence from Nigeria/ Raphaël Godefroy.
In: The Economic Journal (2003), vol.129, no. 619, p. 1247-1280

Safiyya and Adamah : punishing adultery with sharia stones in twenty-first-century Nigeria/ Ogbu U. Kalu.
In: African Affairs : the Journal of the Royal African Society (2003), vol. 102, no. 408, p. 389-408
https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adg051

Shari'a implementation in Nigeria : issues & challenges on women's rights and access to justice/ Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan and Abiola Afolabi-Akiyode (eds.)
Enugu [etc.] : Women's Aid Collective [etc.], 2003.

Human rights of women and Islamic identity in Africa/ Buthaina Ahmed Elnaiem.
In: Recht in Afrika : Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für afrikanisches Recht (2002), Jg. 5, Heft 1, p. 1-15

Islamic family law in a changing world : a global resource book/ ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad al- Naʿīm (ed.)
London [etc.] : Zed Books, 2002.

Islamic law in Africa symposium, Dar es Salaam 21-23 July 2000/ Centre for Contemporary Islam and Islamic Law in Africa Project (ILAP) University of Cape Town.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2000.

Pronouncing & persevering : gender and the discourses of disputing in an African Islamic court/ Susan F. Hirsch.
Chicago, CA [etc.] : University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Islam, women and the role of the state in Senegal/ Lucy Creevey.
In: Journal of Religion in Africa (1996), vol. 26, no. 3, p.268-307

Shari'a in South Africa : what will subjecting Muslim personal law to a bill of rights do for South African Muslim women?/ Najma Moosa.
In: Alternative Law Journal (1995), vol. 20, no. 2

Women and Islam in Muslim societies/ Hans Thijssen (ed.)
The Hague : Development Cooperation Information Department DVL/OS of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1994.

Islamic law, 'quadhis' courts and Muslim women's legal status : the case of Kenya/ Beverly B Brown.
In: Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (1993), vol. 14, no. 1/2, p. 94-101

Pérennité de l'islam dans le droit tunisien de la famille/ Kalthoum Meziou.
In: Le statut personnel des musulmans : droit comparé et droit international privé / Albert Bastenier, Jean-Yves Carlier, and Francois Rigaux (eds.) Brussels : Bruylant, 1992, p. 247-274

Divorce in the Libyan family : a study based on the sijills of the sharīʿa courts of Ajdābiyya and Kufra/ Aharon Layish.
New York [etc.] : New York University Press ; Jerusalem : Magnes Press [etc.], 1991.

Influence de l'Islam sur la codification du droit de la famille au Sénégal/ Abdoulaye Mathurin Diop.
In: Revue juridique et politique : indépendance et coopération : organe de l'Institut International de Droit d'Expression Française (I.D.E.F.) (1984), vol. 38, no. 2, p. 379-386

Legislative reform and Muslim family law : effects upon women's rights in Africa South of the Sahara/ R.A. Dunbar.
Waltham, Mass. : African Studies Association, 1980.

Women and law reform in contemporary Islam/ Noel J. Coulson and Doreen Hinchcliffe.
In: Women in the Muslim World / ed. by L. Beck and N. Keddie. Cambridge, Mass.[etc.] : Harvard University press, 1979, p. 37-51
https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674733091.c2

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Muslim women's lived experiences

Islamic divorce in the twenty-first century : a global perspective/ Erin E. Stiles and Ayang Utriza Yakin (eds.)
New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2022.

Out of place : an autoethnography of postcolonial citizenship/ Nuraan Davids.
Cape Town : African Minds, 2022.
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/101915

'Please give me my divorce' : an ethnography of Muslim women and the law in Senegal/ Annelien Michelle Bouland.
[The Netherlands] : [publisher not identified], 2022.

Female slam poets of francophone Africa : spirited words for social change/ Mirjam de Bruijn and Loes Oudenhuijsen.
In: Africa (2021), vol. 91, no. 5, p. 742-767
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972021000565 ; https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3270697

Getting the best of both worlds' : aspirations and agency in relation to marriage and schooling among Haalpulaar women in northern Senegal/ Anneke Newman.
In: Compare (2021), vol. 51, no. 8, p.1157-1173

Muslim family in Northern Mozambique : sharīʿa, matriliny and the official legislation in paquitequete/ Liazzat J. K. Bonate.
In: Islamic Africa (2021), vol. 11, no. 2, p. 184-207

Quietly queer(ing) : the normative value of sutura and its potential for young women in urban Senegal/ Loes Oudenhuijsen.
In: Africa (2021), vol. 91, no. 3, p. 434-452
https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3277310/view

Récits cinétiques » : le déplacement comme récit de contestation des wahayu, concubines de statut servile dans les régions frontalières du Niger et du Nigeria/ Lotte Pelckmans.
In: Esclavages & post-esclavages (2021), no. 4

Les ruptures conjugales en Afrique subsaharienne musulmane : analyse socio-anthropologique du tashi, de la répudiation et du divorce à Niamey, Niger/ Alhassane A. Najoum.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2020.

Sex and desire in Muslim cultures : beyond norms and transgression from the Abbasids to the present day/ Aymon Kreil, Lucia Sorbera and Serena Tolina (eds.)
London [England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.

Khartoum offside/ directed by Martha Zein.
[Khartoum] : ORE Productions, 2019.

Saffron : a collection of personal narratives by muslim women/ Zaheera Jina.
Grant Park, South Africa : African Perspectives, 2018.

Dilemma of Muslim women regarding divorce in South Africa/ N. Gabru.
In: Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (2017), vol.7, no. 2, p. 43-56

Privately empowered : expressing feminism in Islam in northern Nigerian fiction/ Shirin Edwin.
Evanston, IL : Northwestern University Press, 2016.

Gendered lives in the western Indian Ocean : Islam, marriage, and sexuality on the Swahili Coast/ Erin E. Stiles and Katrina Daly Thompson (eds.)
Athens, OH : Ohio University Press, 2015.

Gendering ethnicity in African women's lives/ Jan Bender Shetler.
Madison, WI : The University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/rdnp04/cdi_proquest_ebookcentral_EBC3445448

I compose myself : lesbian Muslim autobiographies and the craft of self-writing in South Africa/ Gabeba Baderoon.
In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2015), vol. 83, no. 4, p. 897-915

Je ne suis pas Diam's/ Fawzia Zouari.
Paris : Stock, 2015.

Riding the samoosa express : personal narratives of marriage and beyond/ Zaheera Jina and Hasina Asvat (eds.)
Cape Town : Modjaji Books, 2015.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/1e3kn0k/TN_cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781920590949

Special issue: Love and sex in Islamic Africa/ Corrie Decker and Elisabeth MacMahon (eds.)
Africa Today (2015), vol. 61, no. 4
https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/32500

Following in the steps of ʿĀʾisha : Ḥassāniyya-speaking Tijānī women as spiritual guides (muqaddamāt) and teaching Islamic scholars (limrābuṭāt) in Mauritania/ Britta Frede.
In: Islamic Africa (2014), vol. 5, no. 2, p. 225-273

Young Somali women's individual and collective understanding of cultural and religious identity through narrative participatory photography/ Ruth M. Smith.
In: Bildhaan : an International Journal of Somali studies (2014), vol. 14, p. 25-49

Muslims and the practice of polygamy/ Rafiah Miftahudeen.
Oyo, Oyo State : Adetunji Printing Press, 2013.

Religion and gender-based violence : West African experience/ Rose Mary Amenga-Etego and Mercy Amba Oduyoye (eds.)
Legon : Legon Theological Studies Series in collaboration with Asempa Publishers, 2013.

Sex as Ibadah : religion, gender, and subjectivity among South African Muslim women/ Nina Hoel and Sa’diyya Shaikh.
In: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2013), vol. 29, no. 1, p. 69-91

Veiling in Africa/ Elisha P. Renne (ed.)
Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2013.

Prayer in the city : the making of Muslim sacred places and urban life/ Patrick A. Desplat and Dorothea Schulz (eds.)
Bielefeld : Transcript Verlag, 2012.

Honour, respectability and 'noble' work: descent and gender-based obstacles to the education and employment of young Haalpulaar women in northern Senegal/ Anneke Newman.
In: Children's Geographies (2011), vol. 18, no. 6, p. 654-666

Le prix de la liberté/ Rayhana and Didier Arnaud.
Paris : Flammarion, 2011.

Renewal and enlightenment : Muslim women's biographic narratives of personal reform in Mali/ Dorothea Schulz.
In: Journal of Religion in Africa (2011), vol. 41, no. 1, p. 93-123
https://doi.org/10.1163/157006611X556610

Research report South African Muslim women: sexuality, marriage and reproductive choices/ Sa'diyya Shaikh, Nina Hoel and Ashraf Kagee.
In: Journal for Islamic studies (2011), vol. 31, p. 96-124
https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC48360

Women's agency in Muslim marriage : 'fatwas' from Timbuktu/ Mohamed Shaid Mathee.
In: Journal for Islamic Studies (2011), vol. 31, p. 75-95
https://hdl-handle-net.ezproxy.leidenuniv.nl/10520/EJC48361

'My veil does not go with my jeans': veiling, fundamentalism, education and women's agency in northern Cameroon/ José van Santen.
In: Africa : Journal of the International African Institute (2010), vol. 80, no. 2, p. 275-300
https://doi.org/10.3366/afr.2010.0205

AIDS and religious practice in Africa/ Felicitas Becker and Wenzel Geissler (eds.)
Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2009.

Allah made us : sexual outlaws in an Islamic African city/ Rudolf Pell Gaudio.
Chichester, West Sussex [etc.] : Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

The impact of rural political economy on gender relations in Islamizing Hausaland, Nigeria/ Paul Clough.
In: Africa : Journal of the International African Institute (2009), vol. 79, no. 4, p. 595-613
https://doi.org/10.3366/E0001972009001089

L'islam et la femme dans l'espace public au Niger/ Mahaman Alio.
In: Africa Development : a Quarterly Journal of the Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa : Revue Trimestrielle du Conseil pour le Développement de la Recherche Économique et Sociale en Afrique (2009), vol. 34, no. 3/4, p. 111-128
https://doi.org/10.4314/ad.v34i3-4.63531

Women and Islamic revival in a West African town/ Adeline Masquelier.
Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2009.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/18s393l/alma9938080194602711

Female wedding singers in Great Khartoum (Sudan) : negotiating discourses on gender, music, and Islam/ Natasja van 't Westende.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2008.

Playing cards in Cairo : mint tea, tarneeb and tales of the city/ Hugh Miles.
London : Abacus, 2008.

Autonomie oder Sicherheit : das Aushandeln von Familiennormen in sudanesischen Familien/ Ulrike Schultz.
In: Afrika Spectrum (2007), Jg. 42, Heft 2, p. 167-194
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-356269

In my father's house : gender, Islam and the construction of a gendered public sphere in Darfur, Sudan/ Karin Willemse.
In: Journal for Islamic Studies (2007), vol. 27, p. 73-115
https://doi.org/10.4314/jis.v27i1.39931

Mafrouza - Oh night!/ directed by Emmanuelle Demoris.
Paris : Les films de la villa, 2007.

Pleasing God and pleasing the patrons : a portrait of a female 'finoo' in The Gambia/ Marloes Janson.
In: Canadian Journal of African Studies (2007), vol. 41, no. 1, p. 38-65
https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2007.10751351

Subira/ directed by Ravneet 'Sippy' Chadha.
[S.l.] : Hot Sun Films, 2007.

Everyday Islam in Kumasi : devout lay men and women in daily life/ Gracia Clark.
[East Lansing, MI] : African Online Digital Library, 2006.

Marriage and divorce : opportunities and challenges facing South African Muslim women with the recognition of Muslim personal law/ Wesahl Agherdien Domingo.
In: Agenda : empowering women for gender equity (2005), spec. issue, p. 68-77
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4066701

Roles and the position of women in Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal/ C. Bop.
In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2005), vol.73, no. 4, p. 1099-1119

'There is no stranger to marriage here!' : Muslim women and divorce in rural Zanzibar/ Erin E. Stiles.
In: Africa : Journal of the International African Institute (2005), vol. 75, no. 4, p. 582-598
https://doi.org/10.3366/afr.2005.75.4.582

Marriage and morality : negotiating gender and respect in Zanzibar town/ Gabrielle E. O'Malley.
Ann Arbor, MI : UMI, 2002.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/1e3kn0k/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_304638755

Conversion or continuum? : the spread of Islam among African women in Cape Town/ Rebekah Lee.
In: Social Dynamics : a Journal of the Faculty of Social Science, University of Cape Town (2001), vol. 27, no. 2, p. 62-85

'One foot in heaven' : narratives on gender and Islam in Darfur, West-Sudan/ Karin Willemse.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2001.
https://doi.org//10.1163/ej.9789004150119.i-555

Prophets and profits : gendered and generational visions of wealth and value in Senegalese Murid households/ Beth Anne Buggenhagen.
In: Journal of Religion in Africa (2001), vol. 31, no. 4, p. 373-401
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/20953/Buggenhagen%20JRA%2021.4%202001.pdf//jsessionid=261FB0E802198E750E955FBCD4D7949B?sequence=1

A room of one's own : single female teachers negotiating the Islamist discourse in Sudan/ Karin Willemse.
In: Northeast African Studies, n.s. (2001), vol. 8, no. 3, p. 99-128
http://dx.doi.org/10.1353%2Fnas.2006.0009

Islam, gender and urbanisation among the Mafa of North Cameroon : the differing commitment to 'home' among Muslims and non-Muslims/ José van Santen.
In: Africa : Journal of the International African Institute (1998), vol. 68, no. 3, p. 403-424
http://doi.org/10.2307/1161256

Women, marriage, and resource management among Muslims in Uganda/ Percy Night Tuhaise (ed.)
[Kampala?] : Women and Law in East Africa (Uganda), 1998.

Between marriage and the market : intimate politics and survival in Cairo/ Homa Hoodfar.
Berkeley, Calif., [etc.] : University of California Press, 1997.

Nachbarinnen : die Alltagswelt muslimischer Frauen in einer nigerianischen Großstadt/ Katja Werthmann.
Frankfurt a.M. : Brandes und Apsel, 1997.

Perspectives on purdah, working women and family planning in Islam/ Sule Ahmed Gusau (ed.)
[S.l. : s.n.], 1995.

Lettre à ma soeur/ directed by Habiba Djahnine.
Nord-Pas-de-Calais : Momento! , 1993.

Voilées, dévoilées : être femme dans le monde arabe/ Noria Allami.
Paris : Éditions L'Harmattan, 1988.

Women, Islam, and baraka/ Christian Coulon.
In: Charisma and brotherhood in African Islam / ed. by Donal B. Cruise O'Brien and Christian Coulon. - Oxford : Clarendon Press , 1988, p. 113-133

The comparative status and future of muslim women in Cameroon/ Mario Azevedo and Gwendolyn Prater.
In: Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (1986), vol. 7, no. 2, p. 419-438

Marriage patterns, political change, and the perpetuation of social inequality (in South Kanem (Chad))/ Edouard Conte.
Paris : Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre-mer, 1983.

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Global and local discourses

“Madame est au niveau 2, et moi…?” Gendered dynamics of qur’an reading courses in Dakarois Francophone educated middle-class milieus/ Nadine Sieveking.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (2022), no. 248, p. 771-796
https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.40262

Religiöser Wandel in muslimischen Gesellschaften Individualisierung, Geschlecht und soziale Milieus/ Katja Föllmer, Lisa Maria Franke, Johanna Kühn, Roman Loimeier, Nadine Sieveking, Katja Föllmer and Johnna Kühn (eds.)
Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2022.
https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/58496/GSSCA25_Foellmer.pdf?sequence=1

‘Why invite her here? Her voice is ʿawra!’: vocal nudity debates and Muslim female preachers in northern Nigeria/ Rahina Muazu.
In: Africa (2022), vol. 92 (3), p.334-353

The space of the transnational : feminisms and Ummah in African and Southeast Asian writing/ Shirin Edwin.
Albany : State University of New York Press, 2021.

Women, agency, and the state in Guinea : silent politics/ Carole Ammann.
United Kingdom : Taylor & Francis, 2020.

Réislamisations au Burkina Faso : questions de genre et enjeux sociaux/ Maud Saint-Lary.
Paris : Karthala, 2019.

Seeking legitimacy : why Arab autocracies adopt women's rights/ Aili Mari Tripp.
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Transcending ethnic and religious barriers in decision-making: a case of a Muslim women civil organisation in Nigeria/ Rofiah Ololade Sarumi, Olumuyiwa Temitope Faluyi and Obianuju E Okeke-Uzodike.
In: Frontiers in Psychology (2019), vol. 9, p. 2693-2693

Wrapping authority : women Islamic leaders in a Sufi movement in Dakar, Senegal/ Joseph Hill.
Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2018.

La prédication féminine musulmane au Sénégal/ Selly Ba.
Saarbrücken : Éditions universitaires européennes, 2017.

Post-revolutionary Tunisia : the conceptualisation of women in the Islamist discourse on Facebook/ Manel Zouabi.
In: African Studies Bulletin (2016), , no. 78, p. 79-104

Introduction: en-gendering Islamic authority in West Africa/ Britta Frede and Joseph Hill.
In: Islamic Africa (2014), vol. 5, no. 2, p. 131-165

Islam, youth and modernity in the Gambia : the Tablighi Jamaʻat/ Marloes Janson.
New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Piety, moral agency, and leadership : dynamics around the feminization of Islamic authority in Côte d'Ivoire/ Marie Nathalie LeBlanc.
In: Islamic Africa (2014), vol. 5, no. 2, p. 167-198

Corporeal bodies, religious lives, and 'women's rights': Engaging Islamic body politics among Muslim women in South Africa/ Nina Hoel.
In: Agenda (2013), vol.27, no. 4 (98), p.79-90

Muslim Ethiopia : the Christian legacy, identity politics and Islamic reformism/ Patrick Desplat and Terje Østebø (eds.)
New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Scènes des genres au Maghreb : masculinités, critique queer et espaces du féminin/masculin/ Claudia Gronemann and Wilfried Pasquier (eds.)
Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2013.

Reforming men, refining umma : Tablīghī Jamā‛at and novel visions of Islamic masculinity/ Halkano Abdi Wario.
In: Religion and Gender (2012), vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 231-253

Public opinion in the Middle East : survey research and the political orientations of ordinary citizens/ Mark A. Tessler.
Bloomington [etc.], IN : Indiana University Press, 2011.

Who wears 'hijab' with the president : constructing a modern Islam in Tunisia/ Simon Hawkins.
In: Journal of religion in Africa (2011), vol. 41, no. 1, p. 35-58
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163%2F157006611X556629

'All women are guides' : Sufi leadership and womanhood among 'Taalibe Baay' in Senegal/ Joseph Hill.
In: Journal of religion in Africa (2010), vol. 40, no. 4, p. 375-412
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163%2F157006610X540735

Muslim women reformers in Africa : the Nigeria case/ Omobolaji Ololade Olarinmoye.
In: Afrika Zamani : revue annuelle d'histoire africaine (2010), no. 18/19, p. 133-150

A re-shaping of gender activism in a Muslim context-Senegal/ Rizwana Habib Latha.
In: Agenda (2010), vol. 24, no. 83, p.55-67

Discourse on moral womanhood in Somali popular songs, 1960-1990/ L. Kapteijns.
In: The Journal of African History (2009), vol. 50, no. 1, p. 101-122
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40206700

Mass Islamic education and emergence of female 'ulamā' in Northern Nigeria: background, trends, and consequences/ Muhammad Sani Umar.
In: The transmission of learning in Islamic Africa/ Scott S. Reese (ed.) Leiden: Brill, 2004, p. 99-120.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047413349_010

New perspectives on Islam in Senegal : conversion, migration, wealth, power, and femininity/ Mamadou Seck Diouf and Mara A Leichtman (eds.)
New York : Palgrave MacMillan, 2009.

Seeing (through) the gaze : marking religious and cultural differences onto Muslim female bodies/ Maheshvari Naidu.
In: Journal for the Study of Religion (2009), vol. 22, no. 2, p. 23-42

Mobilizing Muslim women : multiple voices, the Sharia, and the state/ Zakia Salime.
In: Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (2008), vol. 28, no. 1, p.200-211

Renegotiating gender: changing moral practice in the 'Tablighi Jamaʿat' in The Gambia/ Marloes Janson.
In: Journal for Islamic Studies (2008), vol. 28, p. 9-36
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314%2Fjis.v28i1.39919

Appropriating the mosque: women's religious groups in Khartoum/ Salma Ahmed Nageeb.
In: Afrika Spectrum (2007), Jg. 42, Heft 1, p. 5-27
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40175165

Between Islam and feminism : new political transformations and movements in Morocco/ Zakia Salime.
Ann Arbor, MI : UMI, 2007.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/rdnp04/cdi_proquest_journals_304985754

(Re)turning to proper Muslim practice: Islamic moral renewal and women's conflicting assertions of Sunni identity in urban Mali/ Dorothea Schulz.
In: Africa Today (2007), vol. 54, no. 4, p. 21-43
http://doi.org/10.2979/aft.2008.54.4.20

'We don't want equality; we want to be given our rights': Muslim women negotiating global development concepts in Senegal/ Nadine Sieveking.
In: Afrika Spectrum (2007), Jg. 42, Heft 1, p. 29-48
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40175166

Gender and citizenship : Hausa women's political identity from the caliphate to the protectorate/ Hauwa Mahdi.
Göteborg : University of Göteborg, 2006.

La polygamie : pour ou contre? Vous ne savez pas?! Réflexions/ Belko Abdoul Aziz Diallo.
[Burkina Faso] : L'educateur, 2004.

Fundamentalisms, globalisation and women's human rights in Senegal/ Fatou Sow.
In: Gender and Development (2003), vol. 11, no. 1, p.69-76

Genre et politique au Maroc : les enjeux de l'égalité hommes-femmes entre islamisme et modernisme/ Houria Alami M'Chichi.
Paris [etc.] : L'Harmattan, 2002.

Power and paradox in Hausa Bori : discourses of gender, healing and Islamic tradition in northern Nigeria/ Susan M. O'Brien.
Ann Arbor, MI : UMI Dissertation Services, 2002.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/1e3kn0k/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_304634220

A discourse-centered approach toward understanding Muslim identities in Zinder, Niger/ Robert S. Glew.
In: Islam et sociétés au sud du Sahara : notes et documents : cahiers annuels pluridisciplinaires (2000), no. 14/15, p. 99-119

Women, islamisms and the state : contemporary feminisms in Egypt/ Azza Mostafa Karam Mohammed Abdel Salam.
Basingstoke [etc.] : Macmillan Press ; New York : St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Islam, transnational culture, and modernity in rural Sudan/ Victoria Bernal.
In: Gendered encounters : challenging cultural boundaries and social hierarchies in Africa / Maria Grosz-Ngaté and Omari H. Kokole, eds. New York [etc.] : Routledge, 1997, p. 131-151

Feminists, Islam, and nation : gender and the making of modern Egypt/ Margot Badran.
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1995.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400821433

The duties of women in Islam/ Mulikat M. Kamal-din.
Offa : Hasbunallah Islamic Publishers, 1994.

Egyptian discourses on gender and political liberalization : do secularist and Islamist views really differ?/ Mervat F. Hatem.
In: The Middle East Journal (1994), vol. 48, no. 4, p. 661-676
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4328746

Gender in Egypt : between Islamisms, feminisms, and the State : perspectives of some women activists/ Azza Mostafa Karam Mohammed Abdel Salam.
In: VENA Journal (1994), vol. 6, no. 1, p. 41-47

'Fundamentalism', 'modernity', and women's groups in Egypt : activist women's realities/ Azza Mostafa Karam Mohammed Abdel Salam.
Amsterdam : MERA, Middle East Research Associates, 1993.

The impact of Islam on women in Senegal/ Lucy E. Creevey.
In: The Journal of Developing Areas (1990), vol. 25, no. 3, p. 347-368
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/f/q6ue0s/TN_cdi_fao_agris_US9130738

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Web resources

The Federation of Muslim Women's Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN)
The Federation of Muslim Women's Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) is an umbrella body for Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria. FOMWAN propagates the religion of Islam and aims to improve the socio-economic status of especially women, youths and children through training, provision of qualitative education, health and humanitarian services, micro-enterprise scheme and advocacy.
https://fomwanofficial.org/

sister-hood
sister-hood is a digital magazine spotlighting the diverse voices of women of Muslim heritage. Its ambassadors and contributors include many women activists from Muslim Africa.
https://sister-hood.com/

Women in Islam - blog
The website of the Women in Islam journal, includes a blog with freely available opinion articles, and recordings of several webinars.
https://www.womeninislamjournal.com/english/

SIHA
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network is an indigenous African women’s rights network, created by women activists from Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Its website includes a library section with publications and videos.
https://sihanet.org/

The Muslim Women Times (TMWT)
TMWT is an independent media platform spotlighting the stories of Muslim women focusing on essays that incorporate anything from social justice and institutional corruption to wellbeing, history and Muslim women’s rights.
https://themuslimwomentimes.com/

Musawah
Musawah ('equality' in Arabic) is a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, comprised of NGOs, activists, scholars, legal practitioners, policy makers, and grassroots women and men from around the world. Their website includes many resources on the subject.
https://www.musawah.org/

Women living under Muslim laws
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) is a transnational feminist solidarity network that promotes human rights and gender justice and equality for women whose lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by patriarchal and/or authoritarian interpretations of Islam.
https://www.wluml.org/

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