1st Edition

Muslim Diaspora Gender, Culture and Identity

Edited By Haideh Moghissi Copyright 2006
    268 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    272 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Muslim Diaspora identifies those aspects of migratory experience that shatter or reinforce a group’s attachment to its homeland and affect its readiness to adapt to a new country.

    The contributors to this collection examine many dimensions of life in the Diaspora and demonstrate that identity is always constructed in relation to others. They show how religious identity in diaspora is mediated by many other factors such as:

    • Gender
    • Class
    • Ethnic origin
    • National status

    A central aim is to understand Diaspora as an agent of social and cultural change, particularly in its transformative impact on women. Throughout, the book advances a more nuanced understanding of the notions of ethnicity, difference and rights. It makes an important contribution to understanding the complex processes of formation and adoption of transnational identities and the challenging contradictions of a world that is being rapidly globalized in economic and political terms, and yet is increasingly localized and differentiated, ethically and culturally.

    Muslim Diaspora includes contributions from outstanding scholars and is an invaluable text for students in sociology, anthropology, geography, cultural studies, Islamic studies, women’s studies as well as the general reader.

    Introduction Haideh Moghissi  Part I: Diaspora and Identity; Violence and Exile representation  1. Diaspora: History of a concept Denise Helly  2. Diaspora, violence and identity Mark J. Goodman  3.Islam and consecrated tortures Ezzat Mousallahnejad  4. Islam in diaspora and challenges to multiculturalism: Shar’ia in Canada Saeed Rahnema  5. Exilic reading of three religious texts – Reza Baraheni  Part II: Home and Exile: Gender and the politics of memory  6. Divided communities of memory: diasporas come home Mary Ann Tetrault  7. Our reflections in their mirror Hammed Shahidam  8. In the shadow of Europe: Mediterranean diasporas and Identity: yesterday and today Ada Lonni  9. Gender, Nation and diaspora: Kurdish Women in Feminist Transnational Struggles Shahrzad Mojab  10. Discourses of Islam/Secularism and Identity building processes among Turkish university Youth Aylin Akpinar  Part III: Contested terrains: Islam, Gender and struggles for continuity and change  11. The Hijab controversies in Western public schools: contrasting conceptions of ethnicity and of ethnic relations Mrie McAndrew  12. Islamophobia and Women of Pakistani descent in Bradford: the cris of ascribed and adopted identities Haleh Afshar, Robert Aikin and Myfanwy Franks  13. Diasporic Narratives on Virginity Fataneh Farahani  14. Iranian American elderly in California’s Santa Clara Valley: crafting selves and composing lives Mary Hegland  15. Like Parvin, like Najiba, like Heba, we are all different: reflections on voices of women in diaspora Afsaneh Hojabri

    Biography

    Haideh Moghissi