The Future Is Feminist by Sara Rahnama offers a closer look at
a pivotal moment in Algerian history when Algerians looked to
feminism as a path out of the stifling realities of French colonial
rule. Algerian people focused outward to developments in the Middle
East, looking critically at their own society and with new eyes to
Islamic tradition. In doing so, they reordered the world on their own
terms—pushing back against French colonial claims about Islam's
inherent misogyny.
Rahnama describes
how Algerians took inspiration from Middle Eastern developments in
women's rights. Empowered by the Muslim reform movement sweeping the
region, they read Islamic knowledge with new eyes, even calling
Muhammad "the first Arab feminist." They compared the
blossoming women's rights movements across the Middle East and this
history of Islam's feminist potential to the stifled position of
Algerian women, who suffered from limited access to education and
respectable work. Local dynamics also shaped these discussions,
including the recent entry of thousands of Algerian women into the
workforce as domestic workers in European settler homes.
While Algerian
people disagreed about whether Algeria's future should be colonial or
independent, they agreed that women's advancement would offer a path
forward for Muslim society toward a more prosperous future. Through
its use of Arabic-language sources alongside French ones, The
Future Is Feminist moves beyond Algeria's colonial relationship
to France to illuminate its relationship to the Middle East.