Kaya, Serdar. 2011. "Velvet Jihad: Muslim Women's Quiet Resistance to Islamic Fundamentalism (by Faegheh Shirazi)" Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 7(2): 120-122. (original) (raw)
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women and Islamism e-book 978-3-659-36168-5.pdf (livro)
This book aims a reflection of the presence of women in fundamentalist movements in the Muslim world, taking as its starting point the idea that such activity takes place within a historical process that seems to be crossed by a major contradiction: from one side, the emphasis of Muslim fundamentalism in the return to the traditions of Islam, in which is reserved to the woman, a secondary and predominantly private place; on the other hand, evidences that the presence of women in these movements has contributed to an increase in their social and political participation, inserted in a process of a possible female emancipation unleashed by the modernization of these societies. Thereby, this work develops a comparative approach between Egypt and Turkey post-'80s, organizing it around the following questions: • Islamism and its impact on social and political life of women; • The presence of women in Islamist movements; • Modernity in Islam: women and Islamism.
Feminism and Islam, both have always been controversial topics in their separate spheres with their own shares of supporters and dissidents. This further becomes important since one realizes the majority of the opposition coming to both is from a specific group of people; privileged, white men. The narrative of their identity under threat due to feminists who are often labelled as feminazis (Cohen, 2015) and Muslims who are uniformly seen as terrorists very often forms the mainstream discourse. To then combine the two to form Islamic Feminism is bound to generate a lot of discussion, controversy and fortunately more research and lately, even conferences dedicated to discoursing Islamic Feminism. Islamic feminism is often seen as an oxymoron, with some even considering it insulting to Islam or feminism (Mcdonald, 2008, 347), however it has been accepted as a feminist discourse practised within an Islamic paradigm. Through my essay, I seek to show exactly how this works. Beginning with a brief description of feminism to explore how Islam and feminism are compatible, I move on to deconstruct how feminism has evolved in the middle-east from the era of pre-Islamic societies, giving birth to modern day Islamic Feminism. Scrutinizing some critiques and questions regarding Islamic feminism, at the same time I raise a few questions to ponder upon. I also argue for the requirement of Islamic feminism not only because it provides a voice to Muslim women who have been branded as oppressed for far too long, but also to demand more legal protection by studying laws against women in these countries. I conclude my essay arguing for a transnational women’s movement of which Islamic feminism has to be a significant part of, while throwing light on how women in these regions now utilize social media and carry out innovative methods of on-ground activism for their cause.