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HONOURABLE MENTION 2008 CW SA ANNUAL BOOK AW ARD Zina, Transnational Feminism, and the Moral Regulation of Pakistani Women. Shahnaz Khan. Vancouver, British Columbia: University of British Columbia Press, 2006; illustrations; vi + 152 pages; ISBN 0-7748-1286-9; $ 29.95 (paper).
Shahnaz Khan's study of Pakistani wom en incarcerated under the Zina adultery laws promulgated by the Hadood Ordinances provides a complex reading of the tensions between third and first world politics of gender, power and native representation. Zina laws - instituted under the militarist regime of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 - censure adultery, fornication, rape, and prostitution among men and women, but have historically targeted im poverished wom en. Khan begins her study with a sophisticated historical discussion of religious and political processes by tracing the roots of Zina laws to the creation of Pakistan when the latter was im agined as a homeland for the muslims1 of British India in 1947. Originally propagated by the State as a "means to ensure a moral and just society in Pakistan," these laws are increasingly used by families to discipline urban lowerm iddle-class and working-class women who go against parental authority - by marrying against parental consent (even though adult women do not need parental consent under Pakistan's constitution), defying husbands, and so on (10). In short, Zina laws are used by the family through the State to morally discipline women, ultim ately emphasizing State control over women’s lives and bodies.
Broadly, Khan's study contributes to everyday histories of lives and how these narratives must be investigated within the umbrella of State and religious processes. In particular, Khan is able to show how the Pakistani State and the fam ily collude in the subjugation of impoverished women via

religious ordinances in an increasingly militarized third world zone. In showing how wom en are often direct victim s of Zina laws, Khan illustrates how State and filial morality are often erroneously tied to women's honor.
Khan's field work took place over a period of four years in two prisons and one wom en's shelter in Pakistan. In engaging with stories from over 125 stories from wom en, activists, lawyers, and even prison guards, Khan found that even as the State attempts to cleanse itself through its female subjects, the latter resist such martyrdom in m ultiple local and discursive ways. A majority of these women are wrongly convicted and while some continue to want to return to their families (who are often complicit in their im prisonment), many prefer to stay in the prisons because these new locations are often safer spaces that allow them to flee "the wrath of their fam ilies" 11). In illustrating how these wom en enact agency, Khan dislocates, albeit in a small way, the notion of the oppressed muslim woman in third world societies. The only shortcom ing of the field work, selfacknowledged by Khan, was her restricted access to the women who were afraid to tell complete stories for fear of reprisal from prison guards and their families.
The book provides a strenuous fem inist discussion of the politics of representation of third world women by W estern trained native inform ants, such as the author. W hile there is no novelty in what Khan tells us about navigating the tensions in being a native researcher, being perceived as the subject of the research, and the dangers of further essentializing islam , her discussions reinforce the representational politics inherent in undertaking such projects in light of the global war on terror. Staying consistent with a transnational fem inist position she concludes with a powerful call for

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transnational fem inist solidarity between the north and south because it can "disrupt binary thinking about divisions between the oppressive third world woman and the liberated W estern woman, allowing for an understanding of how oppressions operate globally" (123).
Note 1. Khan pointedly uses lower case to refer to muslims and other religious groups in order to semantically de-essentialize such religious categories. In this review, I stay consistent with her choice.
Devika Chawla Ohio University