Raced and Gendered Subjectivities in the Diasporas: Exploring the Role of Generationally Transferred Local 'Subjugated'
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Raced and Gendered Subjectivities in the Diasporas: Exploring the Role of Generationally Transferred Local ‘Subjugated’ Knowledges in the Education of Canadian Ismaili Women of Indian East African Heritage by Nazira Mawji A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto © Copyright by Nazira Mawji (2018) Raced and Gendered Subjectivities in the Diasporas: Exploring the Role of Generationally Transferred Local ‘Subjugated’ Knowledges in the Education of Ismaili Canadian Women of Indian East African Heritage Nazira Mawji Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto 2018 Abstract Ugandan Canadian Ismaili Muslim women are often subsumed within the larger immigrant ‘South Asian’ (Brown) women collective and pathologized as passive or docile victims of oppressive systems rather than actors who express a feminist commitment. This thesis is an inquiry that transforms this stereotypical image by examining the local forms of agency exhibited by fifteen twice/thrice immigrant East African Ismaili women who trace their roots to the Indian subcontinent. Through life narratives of five triads of three generations of women from the same families – Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters – I historicize the experiences of the women of the first two generations in two different geographical locations, East Africa and Canada, to demonstrate how the encounter between a) traditional gender role expectations, b) the modernizing policies and gender reform strategized by the third and fourth Aga Khans, and c) newer influences in the places of settlement cause these women to experience contradictions in their multiple subject positions in their intersectional locations of gender, race/colour, class and religion. As a result, these Ismaili women create, utilize and transmit local knowledges, based on ii a local ideology, to subsequent generations of women that enables them to negotiate cultural patriarchy and White hegemony to establish home and belonging in places of settlement. This local ideology teaches them to be mindful; to practice ethics of hard work, diplomacy, and resourcefulness; to make investments in family and community and not physical places or material things; and to attain self-sufficiency through formal education and financial independence. Through the locally constructed covert and overt resistance technologies women create and utilize, these Ismaili women demonstrate that their agency is endemic to their diaspora history, taking subtle and ambivalent forms as the women negotiate at the margins of power, at times constrained but also resisting and undermining power relations to survive and even thrive in diaspora space. iii Dedication This work is dedicated to my grandmother, Ba; my aunt, Mama; my mother, Nurbanu; my two daughters, Elysha and Yasene; and the brave women who tell their stories in this study. iv Acknowledgments Considering that this thesis journey has spanned a decade to come to fruition, the people who have propelled me through this endeavour have taken on mammoth significance over the years. My deep gratitude goes to my thesis committee: My thesis supervisor, Dr. Sherene Razack, for her constructive critical insights into my research, her unstinting faith in me; her advocacy on my behalf, and her incalculable reinforcement during my doctoral journey – a journey fraught with countless obstacles; to Dr. Yasmin Jiwani and Dr. Sunera Thobani for their heartening encouragement, their critical insights into women’s resistance and the location of Ismaili women in Ismaili history; to Dr. Minelle Mahtani for prodding my inquiry with critical questions; Dr. Jim Cummins for stepping in timely so I could keep my defense date; and to Dr. Antoinette Gagne, whose inestimable help during the last leg of the thesis journey spurred me to the finish line. Also, I am grateful to Terry Louisy for his efficacious measures to make this research possible; to my colleagues and friends, Dr. Shelina Kassam and Dr. Omisoore Dryden for their support during the doctorate process; and of course, to the Ismaili women without whom this academic pursuit would not have been possible. My special thanks to my family, who have been the inspiration for this project: my mother, Nurbanu, who is a participant in this project, but who also, until her death in December 2017, partook vicariously in the doctoral process; my two daughters, Yasene and Elysha, who have inspired me every step of the way with their loving, motivational urgings, and their unshakable faith; and to Dr. Allison Burgess, who has deftly trod the line between family, friend, and colleague, supplying me with immeasurable emotional, technical, and professional support to make this study possible. Last, but not least, I am indebted to my husband, Saifu, who encouraged me to embark upon this academic journey in the first place, to pursue my passion to tell my story…and that of the three generations of women in my family. v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Historicizing the Ismaili Community Landscape ................................................... 10 Chapter Two: The Role of Local Knowledges in Defining Women’s Agency ............................ 46 Chapter Three: Methodology and Conceptual Framework .......................................................... 84 Chapter Four: Out of India, Into Africa: Women’s Early Immigration Experiences ................. 125 Chapter Five: Locating the Indian East African Ismailis in Uganda .......................................... 161 Chapter Six: Grandmothers: Learning From Older Women ....................................................... 204 Chapter Seven: “I take care of myself”: Gaining Independence Through Struggle in Canada .. 252 Chapter Eight: Survival Lessons in the Diaspora ....................................................................... 325 References ................................................................................................................................... 380 Appendix A: General Information of Study ............................................................................... 391 Appendix B: Summary of Study for Participants ....................................................................... 393 Appendix C: Consent Form ........................................................................................................ 397 Appendix D: Question Guide for Semi-Structured, Conversational Style Interviews ............... 398 Appendix E: Description of Participants in This Study .............................................................. 402 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Plot graph, from Chavez (2008). ................................................................................... 85 Figure 2: Concepts related to Brah’s diaspora space. ................................................................ 111 Figure 3: Concepts related to Collins’ local knowledges............................................................ 115 Figure 4: Concepts related to Vinthagen and Johansson’s everyday resistance. ........................ 120 Figure 5: Venn diagram depicting integration of concepts for conceptual framework. ............. 121 Figure 6: Grandmother participants. ........................................................................................... 204 Figure 7: Mother participants...................................................................................................... 252 Figure 8: Daughter participants. ................................................................................................. 325 Figure 9: Visual representation of participant triads................................................................... 414 vi Introduction “‘We mhindi, we are quiet,’ Mumtaz says. ‘We have learned to be quiet. We obey our men, even our sons when they become men. But we give our daughters gifts. Things we cherish, things of value …Things of value to us, things that have nothing to do with men, or their world. Things men cannot touch, even in their dreams.’” – Tasneem Jamal, Where the Air is Sweet (2014, p. 236) This is a qualitative three-generational study of Canadian Ismaili Muslim diaspora women of Indian East African Heritage. Working with oral life accounts of five triads – each composed of one grandmother, one mother, and one daughter – from five Canadian Ismaili families, including my own, I have explored the capacity of these particular fifteen women