Muslim American Women on Campus: Undergraduate Social Life and Identity

Shabana Mir. Univ. of North Carolina, $28 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4696-1078-8

In this thought-provoking and timely study, Mir, a Millikin University assistant professor in global studies, investigates how Muslim women on Washington, D.C. college campuses navigate their social lives through the complicated religious and cultural expectations of families, peers, friends, and themselves. Mir interviews a wide range of women: Asian, Middle Eastern, and African immigrants; American converts, both black and white; strictly conservative, teetotaling “hijabis” (women who wear the headscarf); feminists, drinkers, and daters; and many practicing a myriad of permutations in between. Focusing on choices around drinking, modest dress, wearing the hijab, and dating, Mir, who as a progressive Muslim woman appears to struggle with these issues herself, reveals the constant balancing act these women perform, using strategies “oriented both toward teaching others about Islam, Muslims, and Muslim women and toward dodging the stereotypes and assumptions that majority American peers inscribed on them.” Despite some academic lingo, the book offers a nuanced, frank voice to issues seldom discussed so openly, and a bracing challenge to academic communities, especially multicultural, religious, and women’s studies scholars, as well as general readers. (Jan.)