Muslim Diaspora: Gender, Culture and Identity

by Moghissi; Haideh

• ISBN13: 9780415770811
• ISBN10: 0415770815
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Muslim Diasporaidentifies 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 termsand yet is increasingly localized and differentiated, ethically and culturally. Muslim Diasporaincludes 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.

Table of Contents

Diaspora : history of an idea	p. 3
Islam in diaspora and challenges to multiculturalism	p. 23
Exilic readings of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran	p. 39
Diaspora, ethnicity and problems of identity	p. 54
Islam and consecrated tortures	p. 68
Divided communities of memory : diasporas come home	p. 81
'Our' reflections in 'their' mirror : cultural politics and the representation of the Iranian diaspora in the Islamic Republic	p. 99
Gender, nation and diaspora : Kurdish women in feminist transnational struggles	p. 116
Discourses of Islam/secularism and identity-building processes among Turkish university youth	p. 133
The hijab controversies in Western public schools : contrasting conceptions of ethnicity and of ethnic relations	p. 153
Islamophobia and women of Pakistani descent in Bradford : the crisis of ascribed and adopted identities	p. 167
Diasporic narratives on virginity	p. 186
Iranian-American elderly in California's Santa Clara Valley : crafting selves and composing lives	p. 205
Like Parvin, like Najiba, like Heba, we are all different : reflections on voices of women in diaspora	p. 220
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