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Muslim Women in the UK and Bosnia: Religious Identities in Contrasting Contexts Sanja Bilic Phd the University of York Centre Fo

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Muslim Women in the UK and Bosnia: Religious Identities in Contrasting Contexts Sanja Bilic Phd the University of York Centre Fo Muslim Women in the UK and Bosnia: Religious Identities in Contrasting Contexts Sanja Bilic PhD The University of York Centre for Women’s Studies September, 2013 Abstract This thesis explores Muslim women’s religious identities and the processes through which they construct and narrate these identities by comparing Bosnian and UK Muslim women. Disproportionate political and media attention on Muslim women in Europe has in turn prompted an increase in academic interest. However, most academic research neglects the experiences of the indigenous European Muslim women thereby maintaining the image of the foreign ‘other’. This research forges a more inclusive approach by considering the views of indigenous European Muslim women. The study is based on interviews with 20 Muslim women, four focus groups and observation of the activities of three Muslim women’s organisations. I subscribe to a feminist perspective where participants’ voices are privileged and, since I belong to both communities, the complexities of my positionality were constantly reflected upon during the course of the research. My analysis is organised around three main themes that emerged from my participants’ accounts of religious identity: family life, hijab and women’s organisations. Family was identified as an important factor in these women’s early perceptions of Islam. However, violent events – the war in Bosnia and the effects of 9/11 and 7/7 in the UK – affected women’s reflections on what it means to be a Muslim woman in Europe, initiating independent re-evaluation of religious identity. This process was transformative, often resulting in a decision to wear the hijab and/or to seek out spaces that encourage a positive sense of Muslim identity such as women’s organisations. During the process of constructing their religious identities, women, in both countries, faced challenges from the societies they live in and also from their families. Their agency is constantly questioned. I argue that two contrasting socio-cultural and historical contexts affect the diversity of lived experiences of the Muslim women and the way they organise, while the similarities, inspired by their faith, lie in skilful negotiation of their religious identities in face of many challenges. 2 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 10 The Field, Self and Experience .................................................................................... 16 Experience ................................................................................................................ 16 The Field ................................................................................................................... 18 Self: Why Bosnia and UK ........................................................................................ 20 Structure of the Thesis .............................................................................................. 28 Chapter One: Contexts: Situating British and Bosnian Muslim Women ...................... 30 Identity ......................................................................................................................... 32 Islam, Europe and Muslim Women: Boundaries of Them and Us .............................. 36 Bosnian Context ........................................................................................................... 43 Bosnian Muslim Women in the Ottoman Period ..................................................... 48 Women and Muslim Identity in Independent and Post-War Bosnia ........................ 50 British Context ............................................................................................................. 54 Chapter Two: Methodology .......................................................................................... 69 Ontological and Epistemological Positions ................................................................. 69 My Positionality as Researcher and Being an Insider/Outsider .................................. 72 Language and Politics............................................................................................... 80 Research Participants and Methods ............................................................................. 84 In Bosnia ................................................................................................................... 84 In the UK .................................................................................................................. 92 Organisations: Experiences with Nahla.................................................................... 93 Organisations: Experiences with Kewser ................................................................. 97 Experiences of Non-organisational Focus Groups ................................................... 99 Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter Three: Family Life and the Sense of Feminine Muslim Identity .................. 109 Bosnia: Austro-Hungarian and Communist /Socialist Legacy .................................. 112 Gendered Influences in Bosnia: Mothers and Grandmothers .................................... 121 Family and Muslim Identity in the UK ...................................................................... 130 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 141 3 Chapter Four: Hijab and Identity ................................................................................ 144 Why the Hijab? .......................................................................................................... 145 Starting off: Becoming a Hijabi................................................................................. 151 Hijab: Between the Text and Practice........................................................................ 156 Hijab as a Choice ....................................................................................................... 163 Hijab and Others ........................................................................................................ 171 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 182 Chapter Five: Identity and Muslim Women’s Organisations ...................................... 184 Muslim Women’s Organisations in Bosnia ............................................................... 185 UK Muslim Women and Government: Women’s National Commission and Muslim Women’s Network ..................................................................................................... 201 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 214 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 216 Appendix I: Brief biographies of the women who took part in my research ............... 229 Bibliographical References ......................................................................................... 234 4 List of Figures Figure 1. Cantonal Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina ...................................................... 85 Figure 2. An old Austro-Hungarian postcard from Sarajevo. ....................................... 114 Figure 3. Photo: veiled Muslim women in Sarajevo marching. .................................... 115 Figure 5. Courtroom: Melika Salihbeg Bosnawi during the Sarajevo Process. ............ 119 Figure 6. Night prayers during Ramadan at Gazi Husrev-Beg mosque, Sarajevo. ....... 126 Figure 7. Style of hijab as worn by the research participants. ...................................... 147 Figure 8. Bosnian women of different ethnicities wearing various head covering. ...... 172 Figure 9. Photo: women after an event in Kewser. ....................................................... 200 Figure 10. Photo: a lecture in Nahla.............................................................................. 200 5 Acknowledgments When I felt helpless, desperate and weary, I always found comfort and peace in words from the Holy Qur’an: ‘Inna ma’a al‘usri yusran’ (Surely, with the hardship, there is relief). The most praise is for Allah (God), the Most High, the Merciful, the Sustainer of all things, for making the impossible possible in the course of my PhD journey. All that is good in this piece of work came from only one source – Allah – the Infinite. All mistakes, misunderstandings and imperfections are mine and I hope that I will be forgiven for them. I am sure that it was only by Allah’s will that I was put on this rocky path in order to gain a better knowledge of my Creator, Al-Khaliq. Therefore, I am grateful for all experiences (positive and negative) and people (kind and no so kind) that have assisted me along the way. This research would not have been possible without help and assistance of many individuals. I am forever grateful to my dearest mother, who has selflessly given me continuous support, love and inspiration. Her fortitude and positivity, even when times were really hard, encouraged me to persevere and do my best. I thank my beautiful sons Zain and Qais, who provided joy and sunshine even during the days of gloomiest English weather and their patience while ‘mama is doing her work’ for, what seemed like, a very long time.
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