Muslim Girls and the Other France: Race, Identity Politics, and Social Exclusion

"[Keaton] provides the most in-depth analysis of the predicament of
French Arabs and Africans living in the suburbs of Paris.... [O]ne can read the book
through the lens of such great African American writers and activists as Richard
Wright, James Baldwin, and Malcolm X.... [It] contains an implicit warning to you,
France, not to repeat the American racism in your country." -- from the
foreword by Manthia Diawara

Muslim girls growing up in the
outer-cities of Paris are portrayed many ways in popular discourse -- as oppressed,
submissive, foreign, "kids from the projects," even as veil-wearing
menaces to France's national identity -- but rarely are they perceived simply as
what they say they are: French. Amid widespread perceptions of heightened urban
violence attributed to Muslims and highly publicized struggles over whether Muslim
students should be allowed to wear headscarves to school, Muslim girls often appear
to be the quintessential "other." In this vivid, evocative study, Trica
Danielle Keaton draws on ethnographic research in schools, housing projects, and
other settings among Muslim teenagers of North and West African origin. She finds
contradictions between the ideal of universalism and the lived reality of ethnic
distinction and racialized discrimination. The author's own experiences as an
African American woman and non-Muslim are key parts of her analysis. Keaton makes a
powerful statement about identity, race, and educational politics in contemporary
France.