In so-called democratic liberal countries, the rise in number of young women who choose to embrace Islam not only instigates curiosity and perplexity, but among members of their immediate circles, fear and even anger as well. My ethnographic study of female converts to Islam stemmed from the presupposition that the decision to embrace Islam carries varying symbolic, social and political meaning, whether in the highly stratified French society or in the secularized Quebec context. After presenting the commonalities between conversion paths in both settings, I compare the experience of becoming Muslim in France and in Quebec, with a particular focus on young adults. I argue that the decision to adhere to a stigmatized minority identity is not only a byproduct of perceived contradictions, and each society’s inadequacies, but also a symptom of common yearning among younger members of these societies for adequate language with which to express shared unease.
