Creative Conformity

"This comparative study makes a valuable contribution to feminist efforts to shake up binary assumptions about what it means to be empowered or oppressed."—Kate McCarthy, Religious Studies Review

"Elizabeth Bucar generates tremendous insights through interviewing and studying writings by leaders of women's movements in both Iran and the United States. Bucar locates herself in the prose through engaging examples, and she frames the comparative inquiry with reflections on the research and practice of feminism in a global setting. Creative Conformity demonstrates the careful work needed to develop a cross-cultural feminist politics, to understand and appreciate the diverse ways that women empower themselves within the traditions they inhabit. The book also provides new ways of thinking and acting for secular academic readers."—Jonathan Schofer, associate professor of comparative ethics, Harvard Divinity School

"In Creative Conformity, Elizabeth Bucar makes good use of rhetorical analysis to illumine the ways Roman Catholic and Shi'i women carve out space for themselves while sustaining connections with their respective communities. Readers will learn much from this interesting and unique study."—John Kelsay, associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and Distinguished Research Professor of Religion, Florida State University

"Creative Conformity is a welcome addition to the literature on women's religious thought. Bucar rejects easy binaries between conservative and feminist, and contributes to the current rethinking of agency, ethics, and the female subject. Alert to the perils of comparative work, she draws out important parallels as well as salient differences between Catholic and Shi'i women's varied responses to the authoritative pronouncements of their respective male leaders. This book is vital reading for those concerned with gendered scholarship and activism in Christian and Muslim contexts."—Kecia Ali, assistant professor of religion, Boston University