Breaking The Silence

Offers an account of the author's struggle to found the movement called 'Ni Putes Ni Soumises', aimed at shattering the law of silence about violence against women within French suburban communities. This book raises questions that are part of a broader agenda to open contemporary French society to greater ethnic and cultural diversity. "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 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…