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Everyday Conversions
Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2017
About this book
Attiya Ahmad examines the practice of conversion to Islam by South Asian migrant domestic workers in the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf region and how these women's conversions stem from an ongoing process rooted in their everyday experiences as migrant workers rather than a clean break from their preexisting lives.
Author / Editor information
Attiya Ahmad is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at The George Washington University.
Reviews
"[T]his study offers new insights into the inner-workings of migration and breaks from static readings of religious conversions. . . . Bridging the gap between religion and migration is an important direction in scholarship on transnationalism, and Ahmad’s work markedly joins other projects on this urgent venture."
-- Sasha Sabherwal Anthropological Quarterly
"Everyday Conversions is a poignant and patient engagement with the gendered spaces and relations that are easy to overlook but are vital to state formation, social reproduction and religious life in multiple countries."
-- Leya Mathew Contemporary South Asia
“An enormous contribution. Everyday Conversions will be of interest to a variety of people—those interested in Islam, migrant experiences, the Indian Ocean world, and gender studies, especially.”
-- Keely Sutton Reading Religion
“Everyday Conversions is not only a valuable addition to the growing literature on Gulf identities, but also to the wider literature on religion, belonging and identity.”
-- Idil Akinci Ethnic and Racial Studies
"Beautifully written . . . Attiya Ahmad’s groundbreaking research sheds light on the complex process of conversion and the ways that South Asian migrant women domestic workers in Kuwait rework their lives and reshape their sense of self and belonging."
-- Claire Beaugrand Journal of Middle East Women's Studies
"This beautifully written book . . . skillfully weaves together women’s stories, which are contextualized within the history of the Indian Ocean trade, the feminization of Kuwait’s labour market, and the Islamic revival movement. A
significant addition to scholarship on foreign workers in the Gulf, Attiya Ahmad’s volume adds ethnographic material that is missing from other studies: details of private religious lives."
significant addition to scholarship on foreign workers in the Gulf, Attiya Ahmad’s volume adds ethnographic material that is missing from other studies: details of private religious lives."
-- Mara A. Leichtman Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
"Everyday Conversions was very enjoyable to read; it was very thoughtful and thought-provoking in making sure that these women spoke their own truth. . . . The book expresses the intricacies of navigating one’s conditions between doing what one must do with meeting one’s basic human needs."
-- Mirna Lattouf Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Acknowledgments
ix -
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Introduction. EVERYDAY CONVERSIONS
1 -
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One. TEMPORARINESS
37 -
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Two. SUSPENSION
67 -
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Three. NARAM
101 -
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Four. HOUSETALK
124 -
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Five. FITRA
157 -
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Epilogue. ONGOING CONVERSIONS
191 -
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Appendix 1. Notes on Fieldwork
201 -
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Appendix 2. Interlocutors’ Names and Connections to One Another
207 -
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Glossary
211 -
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Notes
219 -
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Bibliography
245 -
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Index
265
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 9, 2017
eBook ISBN:
9780822373223
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
288
This book is in the series
eBook ISBN:
9780822373223
Audience(s) for this book
Professional and scholarly;
