Nine ‘Between me and my God’: a life story narrative of conciliating cultural discourses and personalization of Islam
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Ladan Rahbari
Abstract
This chapter offers a better understanding of the relation between gender and Islam by portraying and exploring a subjective account of conciliating religiosity and modern individualism. The study is conducted based on a life story narrative of a Muslim migrant woman from Iran, living in Belgium. Her life story and experiences prior to and after migration are analysed to reveal how she has built and made sense of her religiosity in the European context. By adopting a life story method, the chapter aims to investigate dynamics of conciliating supposedly contradicting cultural and religious discourses, and to explore religious belonging and personalization of faith.
Abstract
This chapter offers a better understanding of the relation between gender and Islam by portraying and exploring a subjective account of conciliating religiosity and modern individualism. The study is conducted based on a life story narrative of a Muslim migrant woman from Iran, living in Belgium. Her life story and experiences prior to and after migration are analysed to reveal how she has built and made sense of her religiosity in the European context. By adopting a life story method, the chapter aims to investigate dynamics of conciliating supposedly contradicting cultural and religious discourses, and to explore religious belonging and personalization of faith.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and appendices v
- Notes on contributors vi
- Women and religion: contemporary and future challenges: editors’ introduction 1
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Women, gender equality and religion between past and present
- Gender equality in different readings of Islam in post-revolutionary Iran 21
- Religion and gender equality in Catholic Philippines: discourses and practices in the 21st century 41
- A slow march forward: the impact of religious change on gender ideology in the contemporary United States 59
- Divine shadows: Indian Devadasis between religious beliefs and sexual exploitation 79
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Identities, women’s movements and religion
- Formation of ‘religious’ identity among British Muslim women 95
- Christian women’s movements in secularizing and diversifying contexts: a case study from Belgium 117
- Muslim women in contemporary Argentina 135
- The impact of religious unorthodoxy on family choices and women’s well-being in Turkey 157
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Contemporary women’s religious experiences
- ‘Between me and my God’: a life story narrative of conciliating cultural discourses and personalization of Islam 175
- ‘We are all Goddesses’: female sacred paths in Italy 191
- Explorations of spiritual embodiment in belly dance 207
- From exclusion to inclusion: women and interfaith dialogue in the Mediterranean area 221
- Index 237
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and appendices v
- Notes on contributors vi
- Women and religion: contemporary and future challenges: editors’ introduction 1
-
Women, gender equality and religion between past and present
- Gender equality in different readings of Islam in post-revolutionary Iran 21
- Religion and gender equality in Catholic Philippines: discourses and practices in the 21st century 41
- A slow march forward: the impact of religious change on gender ideology in the contemporary United States 59
- Divine shadows: Indian Devadasis between religious beliefs and sexual exploitation 79
-
Identities, women’s movements and religion
- Formation of ‘religious’ identity among British Muslim women 95
- Christian women’s movements in secularizing and diversifying contexts: a case study from Belgium 117
- Muslim women in contemporary Argentina 135
- The impact of religious unorthodoxy on family choices and women’s well-being in Turkey 157
-
Contemporary women’s religious experiences
- ‘Between me and my God’: a life story narrative of conciliating cultural discourses and personalization of Islam 175
- ‘We are all Goddesses’: female sacred paths in Italy 191
- Explorations of spiritual embodiment in belly dance 207
- From exclusion to inclusion: women and interfaith dialogue in the Mediterranean area 221
- Index 237
