Breaking the Silence: French Women's Voices from the Ghetto
Born in France of Algerian parents, Fadela Amara is a human rights activist who speaks with both a personal and a collective voice. This book is a passionate account of her struggle to found the movement called "Ni Putes Ni Soumises" (Neither Whore Nor Submissive), aimed at shattering the law of silence about violence against women within French suburban communities. The questions Amara raises are part of a broader agenda to open contemporary French society to greater ethnic and cultural...
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"The translation of Breaking the Silence allows us, finally, to listen directly to the voices of Muslim women in France. Fadela Amara's book is at once autobiography, an analysis of the degradation of male-female relations in France's working-class suburbs, and an engrossing chronicle of a political movement. Helen Chenut's deft translation and comprehensive introduction shows us complex universe inhabited by young women of North African descent in contemporary France."—Susanna Barrows, author of Drinking: Behavior and Belief in Modern History"This book delivers a timely and evocative corrective to stereotypes of Muslim women. Amara discusses with sensitivity the complex gender position of Muslim women in a Western European country in which the conflict between liberal republican ideals and cultural norms has had particularly violent consequences for women. Chenut's fine translation brings Amara's words to life and her excellent introduction places the Muslim women's movement in the context of the racial and cultural tensions that plague France's banlieues today."—Laura Levine Frader, co-editor, Gender and Class in Modern Europe
Translator's Introduction Prologue Part One / Social Breakdown in the Projects1 Daughter of the Housing Projects 2 The Status of Women in the 1990s 3 Between Invisibility and Rebellion 4 Sexuality in the Projects 5 From Neighborhood to Ghetto 6 Obscurantism, the Key to Regression Part Two / An Act of Survival: The March and Its Success7 Preparations for the March 8 The Success of the March 9 Is Feminism No Longer Relevant? 10 The Battle Ahead Epilogue: Reinvest in the Suburbs! Postscript Appendix 1: A National Appeal from Neighborhood Women Appendix 2: The Manifesto of Neighborhood Women Bibliography and Further Reading Index
