Gender, Martyrdom, and the Management of Stigmatized Identities Among Devout Muslims in the U.S
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Gender, Martyrdom, and the Management of Stigmatized Identities among Devout Muslims in the U.S. By [Copyright 2016] Pooya Shawn Darius Naderi Submitted to the graduate degree program in Sociology and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Joane Nagel ________________________________ Eric Hanley ________________________________ Mehrangiz Najafizadeh ________________________________ Mary K. Zimmerman ________________________________ Christian S. Crandall Date Defended: April 6, 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Pooya S.D. Naderi certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Gender, Martyrdom, and the Management of Stigmatized Identities among Devout Muslims in the U.S. ________________________________ Chairperson Joane Nagel Date approved: April 6, 2016 ii Abstract This dissertation explores the role of gender in contemporary Islam and the daily lives of Muslim minorities in the West. Specifically, I examine how social constructions of masculinity and femininity are manifest in militant jihad, and how young Muslims in America manage the stigma placed on them as a result of jihadists’ beliefs and actions. I asked how jihadists frame acts of martyrdom and mass violence, and how young Muslims in America handle the associated and ensuing stigma in daily life? To address these questions, I analyzed statements from militant jihadists and conducted in-depth interviews with twenty-six young and devout Muslims living in the Midwestern United States. Using grounded methods, I found that martyrdom acts, which include suicide attacks, were framed as self-defense, restorative rituals, and honor displays. These frames indicate that such violence—directed at others and the self—enables aggrieved men to resist foreign domination, elicit deference from others, and claim gender-based rewards. Integrating Symbolic Interactionist and pure sociological perspectives, I argue that martyrdom is a form of masculine self-help: a gender-signifying act that expresses a grievance through self- sacrificial and embodied aggression. In addition, I found that young Muslim men and women cope with collective stigmatization by defining and doing gender in culturally normative ways, especially when interacting with non-Muslim publics. Drawing on dramaturgical and identity theories, I conceptualize these stigma management strategies as allaying embodiment, benign accommodation, claiming normality, embracing stigma, communicating commitment, and claiming exceptionality. These strategies suggest that gender displays are integral to the stigma process and may be strategically deployed to protect the self in mixed-contact situations. This research also indicates that the stigma process can lead to greater commitment to religious role- identities and increased self-esteem based on the subjective interpretation and social context of traumatic events. iii Acknowledgments My deepest thanks and gratitude to members of my dissertation committee, Joane Nagel, Eric Hanley, Mehrangiz Najafizadeh, Mary K. Zimmerman, and Christian S. Crandall, my beloved parents, Marzie and Kazem, my loyal brother, Parsa, my wise mentor, Bob Antonio, my entire academic family at the University of Kansas Department of Sociology, and my solicitous and willing interview participants. In addition, I must acknowledge the following people and programs for being significant, at one point or another, in my development as a teacher, researcher, and compassionate human being: Reza Aslan, Karim Sadjadpour, Robert Jensen, Eva Vlach, Matthew Carlson, Ebenezer Obadare, Razi Ahmed, Dean Braa, Peter Callero, Peter Collier, Lewis Mennerick, Margaret Wood, Kuoray Mao, Stephanie K. Decker, John Paul, Cheryl Childers, Janelle Williams, Kyle Chapman, David Health Cooper, Robert Bombard, Mark Keaney, Lacy Haynes, LeaMarie Herron, Jessica Irving, the University of Kansas Center for Global and International Studies, the Hall Center for the Humanities, the United States Department of Education, and the Rime Center. Your guidance and continued support have been vital to my success. iv Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Masculine Self-Help: Martyrdom and Mass Violence as Gender Signifying Acts in Militant Jihad ...................................................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Haraam-less Masculinity: Normative Gender Displays as Strategies for Managing the Stigmatized Identities of Young Muslim Men...............................................................................50 Chapter 3: Capturing the Veil: The Nexus of Commitment, Salience, and Stigma in the Moral Careers of Young Muslim Women ..............................................................................................101 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................138 Appendix A: Interview Schedule .................................................................................................177 Appendix B: Demographic Questionnaire and Data ...................................................................181 v INTRODUCTION “The fully and visibly stigmatized…must suffer the special indignity of knowing that they wear their situation on their sleeve, that almost anyone will be able to see into the heart of their predicament” (Goffman 1963: 127) “Stigma is as much about the resistance of identities as the reduction of identities” (Howarth 2006: 450) To be Muslim in America is to be a problem. The cultural and political landscape in the United States following the September 11th attacks carried by al-Qa’ida, has led to anti-Muslim stereotypes, sentiments, and violence, defined collectively as “Islamophobia” (Gottschalk and Greenberg 2008; Love 2009; Perry 2003). More than a decade after 9/11, this “backlash” against Muslims continues (Peek 2011). At the same time, Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the U.S. The number of adherents will soon surpass Judaism and all other faith communities in the country, save Christianity (Mohamed 2016). The steady growth of Islam in America is contoured by many different ethnicities, nationalities, and ideological schools. In terms of age, an increasing percentage are younger people that are more devout and conservative than previous generations of Muslim-Americans (Peek 2005; Hermansen 2003). This trend is akin to the rise of identity politics among other minorities in the U.S. in earlier eras (Anderson and Cromwell 1977; Nagel 1995; Min and Kim 2000). It also makes young Muslim-Americans an increasingly significant block of the sociopolitical order in the country. Their experiences and actions will inevitably shape the trajectory and impact of Islam in arguably the most religiously diverse society in the Western world. 9/11 was a tragic moment in American history and for Muslim people around the globe. The U.S. actions following 9/11, particularly the War on Terror and U.S-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have targeted Muslims in extraordinary and unprecedented ways, and strained relations with the Muslim world. The start of this contentious situation, at least in the eyes of 1 most Americans, remains the actions of nineteen men: the self-proclaimed “men of jihad” (Aaron 2008). According to Aslan (2009), these men believed they were heroic martyrs waging a “cosmic war” on behalf of Islam. Their actions have raised questions about the meaning of martyrdom in Islam (Ahmed 2003; Khosrokhavar and Macey 2005; Hafez 2007). While the religious views and identities of the 9/11 hijackers have become notorious, what often goes unsaid and unexamined is the fact that they were all men, convinced of their actions by other men. This raises the issue of gender and the role that gender plays in militant jihad. Another issue is that of motivation: how can we make sense of jihadist grievances and use of violence? More specifically, what do their grievances suggest about the relationship between martyrdom and manhood? Despite a few recent studies that have explored such issues (e.g., Aslam 2012; Von Knop 2007; Hafez 2007), these questions remain empirically under-explored and under- theorized in the sociological literature. This presupposes further study of the subjective meaning and aims of martyrdom. The specter of terrorism looms over Muslim communities in the West, even more so after the 2015 mass-casualty attacks in Paris carried out by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In the U.S., such violence has revived anti-Islamic sentiment, with conservative politicians, media personalities, and members of the public calling for significant restrictions on Muslim immigrants and communities. The severity of Islamophobia in America now mirrors, if not exceeds, that which immediately followed the 9/11 attacks (Obeidallah 2014; Gallup, Inc. 2011). In this “post-9/11” context, Muslim identities continue to be scrutinized and surveilled, and so the lives and standpoints of Muslims living in America are shaped by this context. An important aspect of this process is how the younger generation—those who were just kids when 9/11 happened—deal with collective stigmatization. How do they reconcile their religious role- 2 identities