Adversarial Islamic Feminism: Islam and Feminism Within the Western-Islamic Public Sphere

This book explores the adversarial world of feminist activism by Muslim women within highly mediated environments (social media, screenwriting, documentary filmmaking, YouTube), focusing on agency, bodily integrity, and familial obligations. It highlights how adversarial Islamic feminism uses social media to spread intersectional feminist messages, creating virtual communities that both support and challenge these ideas. The book showcases the diversity within Islamic practices and the lived experiences of women beyond the gatekeeping authoritative interpretations of Sunni Islamic theology. It presents adversarial Islamic feminism as existing in a ＂borderland＂ between Islam and feminism, questioning and reshaping their confluence. This space allows for a vibrant dialogue that bridges Western and Islamic feminist perspectives, offering a new view on the intersection of these identities.

Dilyana Mincheva, an Associate Professor at McMaster University, researches Islamic feminism and Islam’s intellectual/public aspects in indigenous/diasporic settings. She is the author of The Politics of Western Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West(Liverpool University Press, 2016/2022) and other works on religious agency, social media activism, and Islamic media arts.