Engaging Modernity: Muslim Women and the Politics of Agency in Postcolonial Niger

Seizing the space opened by the early 1990s democratization movement, Muslim women are carving an active, influential, but often-overlooked role for themselves during a time of great change. This volume provides a compelling portrait of Muslim women in Niger as they confronted the challenges and opportunities of the late twentieth century.    Based on thorough scholarly research and extensive fieldwork—including a wealth of interviews—this 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.