ABSTRACT
Many French Muslim feminists assert women's right to interpretation, or ijtihad. The practice of rereading the sources from a feminist perspective is broadly known as 'Islamic feminism' and in recent years it has emerged both as a site of transnational feminist resistance to Islamic fundamentalism and as an alternative to dominant 'Western' feminist discourses. This chapter considers how the activities of French Muslim feminists suggest new models of belonging that both reinvigorate the French context and transcend it. It suggests that French Muslim feminists frequently look beyond France's borders for political inspiration and bring these influences into dialogue with French republican discourses. The chapter draws on Anglo-American queer culture, Islamic feminisms and the anticolonial spirit of transnational feminist movements, French Muslim feminists seek to destabilize a nativist feminism grounded in falsely universalizing republican ideals. It discusses the emergence of Muslim feminist activism in relation to attempts to rethink the French model of integration on the part of young French Muslims.
