Muslim Women, Activism, and New Media Cultures

Many scholars within a variety of disciplines have begun to examine the ways in which new media technologies in the Muslim world have helped amplify discussions and debates about the role and meaning of Islam in everyday life. This panel will consider how women in different Muslim contexts, who may or may not identify with feminism, are engaging media to explore different understandings of Islam in relation to their gendered lives and experiences.

Ousseina Alidou is Associate Professor in the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures, and Director of the Center for African Studies at Rutgers University. Her research focuses mainly on the study of women’s discourses and literacy practices in Afro- Islamic societies, African women’s agency, African women’s literatures, gendered discourses of identity, and the politics of cultural production in Francophone African countries. Her book, Engaging Modernity: Muslim Women and the Politics of Agency in Postcolonial Niger explores women’s agency through their contributions in religious and secular education, public politics, and the performing arts.

Photo Credit: UN Women/Hamza Mazra’awi.