Engaging modernity: Muslim women and the politics of agency in postcolonial Niger

Ousseina Alidou’s book is a welcome addition to the growing anthropological literature on Islam in Africa. In the book, she focuses on the experiences of three very different Muslim women: Malama A’ishatu, who runs an Islamic school for girls and broadcasts a popular radio show; Habsu Garba, a singer and dancer who also host a radio talk show; and “Agaisha”, a spokeswoman for the armed Tuareg rebellion and, for obvious reasons, the only one of the three denoted by pseudonym. She intersperses chapters which detail the lives of her three heroines with more general discussions of relevant aspects of the situation of Muslim women in Niger.