The Silence That Speaks

A spectacular collection that opens up to the English reading public a remarkable range of short stories written by Muslim women in the subcontinent. As Haris Qadeer's expert introduction argues, these writings challenge perennial tendencies to generalize either about Muslim women's silences or voices.' - Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenweiser Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, Columbia University, New York.
'Qadeer has assembled here a myriad of Indian Muslim women's voices, some well-known, others deserving of greater renown. All of them challenge hoary stereotypes left over from harem imagery and colonial generalizations. Translated from multiple languages, the selected stories exemplify the tremendous variety of regional cultures contained in the category, Indian Muslims.' - Gail Minault, Professor Emerita of History, University of Texas.
'Brought together for the first time, the stories in Haris Qadeer's wonderful collection incorporate at least half of India's official languages, from Bengali and Hindi to Telugu and Assamese. Taken together, these sparkling stories give the lie to widespread attempts to shunt Muslim women into the pigeonhole of victimhood.' - Claire Chambers, Professor of Global Literature, University of York.