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''It's Not Easy Being an Afghan Woman''

She may laugh a lot, but Humaira Ameer Rasuli lives dangerously. The Afghan human rights activist speaks out in a country where women are still excluded from the development process. By Sandra Petersmann

Our Country is Not an Exception to the Rule

The human rights situation and the role of women in Afghanistan are, as ever, severely under threat. Female human rights activists are issuing urgent warnings about cultural relativism and compromises with the Taliban. By Shikiba Babori

No Peace with Fundamentalists

In an interview with Qantara.de, the Afghan parliamentarian and civil rights activist Malalai Joya criticizes the West's military invention in the Hindu Kush, the governmental policies of Hamid Karzai and the power structures in parliament

"God Isn't Only There for Men"

Over the past few decades, women in Islamic countries have rediscovered going to the mosque. These developments are now gradually being felt in Afghanistan. The first official mosque for women recently opened in Kabul. By Ratbil Shamel

Portrait of a Brave Woman

In his brilliantly written novel, Afghan author Atiq Rahimi holds the reader transfixed with a gripping account of the appalling conditions in his country, wracked by war, atrocity and under-development. Volker Kaminski presents the book

Time for Majority Society to Change Its Attitude

In Germany, many Muslim women feel pressurised into re-defining and justifying their identities and their belongingness on a daily basis. Melahat Kişi feels strongly that instead of focusing on differences, the time has come to accept that all citizens of migrant origin in Germany belong to German society. No ifs, no buts

Double Standards in the Citizenship Debate

If a Turk receives and keeps German citizenship in addition to his own Turkish nationality, then he suffers an identity crisis. If a German were to additionally obtain Turkish citizenship however, this would be no problem at all. A commentary by Prof. Klaus J. Bade

Emancipation with the Koran?

Moroccan family law is regarded as one of the most progressive in the Arab world, but conservative judges still rule against the interests of women. Muslim feminists use the Koran to fight for their rights. Their secular counterparts are sceptical. By Wolf-Dieter Vogel

Identity as Folklore

Sophie Bessis is one of the best-known French-speaking feminists from the Maghreb. In her fight for women's rights, she moves between the conflicting worlds of Europe and Africa, showing equal disdain for Western arrogance and for what is often the pronounced identity policy of the Orient. Kersten Knipp met with Sophie Bessis

On the Connection between Nationalism and Cuisine

Zafer Yenal, assistant professor of sociology at the Bogazici University in Istanbul, explains the important connection between political processes and the cuisine – and why the term "Turkish cuisine" is a new development only since the 1980s.