"John Bowen has written one of the most insightful books on Islam in France. He has done extensive field research in the sensitive suburbs of Paris and inside little-known Islamic institutions that are shaping the future of the religion in France. Bowen admirably shows how French Muslims are struggling not for minority status or multiculturalism, but for value pluralism, conciliating the secular Republican tradition while asserting a new faith community."—Olivier Roy, European University Institute, Florence
"Through a rich ethnography of normative practices such as pedagogies and legal reasonings, John Bowen has produced a rare and invaluable analysis of the making of a French Islam that owes as much to French legal and political constraints as to Muslims' engagement with the Islamic tradition. A required reading for scholars interested in religion and religious minorities in secularist states."—Malika Zeghal, University of Chicago
"Can Islam Be French? is utterly fascinating and engagingly written. Together with his previous book, Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, John Bowen has produced an unparalleled oeuvre on Islam in France."—Paul Silverstein, Reed College
"Can Islam Be French? is an erudite and measured approach to one of the most fraught topics of our time."---Chantal Tetreault, POLAR
"Bowen once again strengthens his position as one of the leading commentators on the French social landscape. What the study lacks in theoretical rigour is off set by a rigorous and vivid narration of the empirical material and by the author's extensive knowledge of the field. Together with Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, the English-speaking student of France and Islam will find here an excellent introduction."---Per-Erik Nilsson, Temenos
"Bowen's study gives no quick and easy answers to this question; rather, it does an excellent job of examining the historical background and current developments that highlight the potentials for--as well as the challenges of--a pragmatic convergence between the norms and ideas of Islam and France."---Lee Ann Bambach, Journal of Law and Religion
"[Bowen] makes an important contribution to both the anthropology of France and the anthropology of Islam in the West through his detailed discussion of different Islamic schools of religious interpretation and traditions of jurisprudence. By examining the myriad debates that define a global Islamic space, Bowen challenges stereotypes about the monolithic religion that prevail in the media and across the political spectrum. . . . Bowen does a remarkable job of sifting through and making sense of a vast array of approaches to Islamic norms and of differentiating meaningfully among different Islamic schools."---Susan Terrio, Anthropological Quarterly
"The great merit of this book is not only that it empirically answers the question it asks, but in doing so, it opens up a series of questions pertaining to the place of Islam in France and the complex and different relations between citizenship and French religions in a postcolonial society."---Abdelmajid Hannoum, Contemporary Sociology
"Bowen's study of Islam [in] a lesser-known social context is very welcome."---Jack David Eller, American Anthropology Review
"The book is richly documented, explicitly supportive of the Muslim point of view and deeply sympathetic to them."---Vaidehi Nathan, Organiser
"[A] major contribution to understanding the real world of Islam in France. . . . An insightful and informative study."
"Mr. Bowen's latest book has a broader and more ambitious canvas. As a good anthropologist, he wants to know not just what the politicians and the media are saying about Islam in France, but what is actually happening on the ground. . . . Mr. Bowen thinks that Muslim values and French secularism could be compatible. But accommodation requires give-and-take on both sides. . . . Can Islam be French? After reading this book, one is inclined to say, 'Yes, but not yet.'"
