Violence and Gender in the New Europe Islam in German Culture [Hardcover]

Weber contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussion about Islam in the West, demonstrating how current thinking about gender violence prohibits the intellectual inquiry necessary to act against such violence, and analyzes ways in which Muslim women participate in the public sphere by thematizing violence in literature, art, and media.Introduction: De-forming the Connections between Muslim Violence, 'Culture' and Secularism 1. A Regime of Gender Violence: Honor Killings, Familial Violence, and Muslim Women's Subjectivities 2. Contentious Headscarves: Cleaning Woman, Forbidden Schoolteacher, Hijab Martyr 3. Troubling Headscarves: Covering, Artistic Reconfigurations of Public Space, and the Muslim Woman's Body 4. Freedom to Imagine the World: Violence and the Writing of Self 5. Violent Authenticities: The Work of Emine Sevgi ?zdamar and Feridun Zaimoglu Conclusion

Weber's insightful engagement with literary theorists is outstanding. In the context of German-language and English-language research about Muslims, feminists, popular culture, politics, and criticism in post-Cold War Germany, this is a major contribution. - Claudia Koonz, Peabody Family Professor Emeritus of History, Duke University, USA

Ranging from dominant discourses on honor killings and headscarves to self-representations and artistic interventions in literature as well as performance, Weber's study undertakes a much-needed comprehensive investigation of the contemporary 'regime of gender violence,' that is, the key role violence has played in defining the position of Muslims in the German public sphere (in the larger European context). Through nuanced theorizing as well as careful historical contextualization, Weber develops an intersectional framework for analyzing gendered violence in a way that does not reinforce racialized discourses of cultural and/or religious difference. In demonstrating how the contemporary German public sphere is cl3