reflection short writting for Prof. Mintella

Chapter 12:

“Avoiding

Youthfulness?”

Young Muslims

Negotiating

Gender and

Citizenship in

France and

Germany” Schirin Amir-Moazami

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPxZ9jSwjy8

Research Questions

– How do young Muslim women in Germany and France establish “ways of

belonging” to religion?

– How are chosen forms of piety an aspect of youthfulness?

– How are “emerging forms of pious youthfulness … intertwined with particular

way of situating themselves within a non-Muslim secular context?” (190).

Research Methodology

– Qualitative

– Interviews with French/German Muslim Women between the ages of 16-30.

– Limits of categorizing the research subjects as “second generation” (189-190).

Youthfulness and Muslim Piety

– Sabine Kebir’s example: Two intermingling yet contradictory narratives

– Women photographed

– Veiling is an “expression of personal belief” and not a patriarchal tool of oppression

Sabine Kebir

Being covered is oppressive and prevents one from experiencing youthfulness in a

healthy manner

Main Argument

– Kebir’s argument produces dominant narratives on veiling which view it as a form of social control of the body and female sexuality.

– Such dominant narratives are intrusive as they seek to impose dominant sexuality norms on bodies of veiled women

– Dominant narratives on health and sexuality do not take into account alternative forms of youthfulness

– Veiling is perceived to obstruct women’s liberation and national belonging

Headscarf as a Product of

Generational Consciousness

– “Voluntary adoption of stigma symbols” (191).

– Veiling is not the result of family tradition

– Inter-generational conflict over religiosity

– Re-reading and re-interpretation of religious texts described as “true Islam”

(193).

Narrative Meanings of Veiling

– Concealment of sexuality and expressing modesty

– Alternative claims over women’s liberation

– Carving a distinction between the ‘sacred’ body and the aesthetic body (194).

– “making visible invisible characteristics” (I94).

– Secularism is associated with imposing certain constraints

Secular Contexts Vs. Religious

Contexts

– Youth confronted with imposed religious behaviors “long for a globalized

version of youthfulness” (195).

– Piety is reimagined and “re-emphasized” in secular spaces because it is

stigmatized by dominant cultural values (195).

Differences among Veiled Women

– Non-homogenous group

– Different social practices of veiling

– Combining hijab with heels and tight jeans

– Self-cultivation in youthful domains

– How should youth spaces for Muslim women be theorized?

– Youth subculture

Germany

– Identification as non-Germans

– Association with home countries is maintained

– Restrictive citizenship tradition (199).

– Greater space for religious pluralism

– Problematizing discourses of religious tolerance