Table Of ContentMuslim Diaspora in the West
Negotiating Gender, Home and Belonging
Edited by
Haideh Moghissi and Halleh Ghorashi
MusliM Diaspora in the West
research in Migration and ethnic
relations series
Series Editor:
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utrecht university
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Managing ethnic Diversity
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Full series list at back of book
Muslim Diaspora in the West
negotiating Gender, home and Belonging
edited by
haiDeh MoGhissi
York University, Toronto, Canada
and
halleh Ghorashi
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
© haideh Moghissi and halleh Ghorashi 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
haideh Moghissi and halleh Ghorashi have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Muslim diaspora in the West : negotiating gender, home and
belonging. -- (Research in migration and ethnic relations
series)
1. Muslim diaspora. 2. Muslims--Non-Muslim countries--
Social conditions.
I. Series II. Moghissi, Haideh, 1944- III. Ghorashi,
Halleh.
305.6'97'091713-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Muslim diaspora in the West : negotiating gender, home and belonging / by haideh
Moghissi and Halleh Ghorashi.
p. cm. -- (Research in migration and ethnic relations series)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-0287-9 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-0288-6 (ebook) 1. Muslim
women--Western countries. 2. Muslim families--Western countries. 3. Muslim diaspora.
4. Islam--Customs and practices. 5. Multiculturalism. I. Moghissi, Haideh, 1944- II.
Ghorashi, Halleh.
HQ1170.M8466 2010
305.6'97091821--dc22
2010026830
isBn 9781409402879 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409402886 (ebk)
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Acknowledgements xi
1 introduction 1
Haideh Moghissi
Part I WoMeN’s aGeNCy WItHIN INterseCtIoN of
DIsCourses
2 Culturalist approach to Women’s emancipation in the netherlands 11
Halleh Ghorashi
3 Globalization and Women’s leadership in the Muslim Diaspora:
an intersectional analysis 23
Fauzia Erfan Ahmed
4 emergence of a transnational Muslim Feminist Consciousness
among Women in the WenaaZ (Western europe, north america,
australia and new Zealand) Context 39
Cassandra Balchin
Part II sHIftING NotIoNs of sexuaLIty aND faMILy IN
DIasPora
5 Multiculturalism and religious legislation in sweden 55
Anne Sofie Roald
6 Iranians in Britain 73
Vida Nassehi-Behnam
7 Changing spousal relations in Diaspora: Muslims in Canada 91
Haideh Moghissi
8 sexing Diaspora:
negotiating sexuality in a shifting Cultural landscape 105
Fataheh Farahani
vi Muslim Diaspora in the West
Part III refLeCtIoNs oN IsLaMIC PosItIoNINGs of youtH
IN DIasPora
9 styles of religious practice: Muslim Youth Cultures in europe 125
Thijl Sunier
10 the struggle to stay on the Middle Ground:
the radicalization of Muslims in sweden 139
David Thurfjell
11 Young French Women of Muslim Descent:
Discriminatory social Context and politicization 145
Sepideh Farkhondeh
Part IV DIasPorIC sPaCe aND LoCatING sPaCe
12 Making homes in turbulent times: Moroccan-Dutch Muslims
Contesting Dominant Discourses of Belonging 163
Marjo Buitelaar and Femke Stock
13 understanding Dutch islam: exploring the relationship of
Muslims with the state and the public sphere in the netherlands 181
Martijn de Koning
14 Between iraq and a hard place: iraqis in Diaspora 197
Jacqueline Ismael and Shereen Ismael
15 Conclusion: a plea for a positive and inclusive rhetoric 209
Halleh Ghorashi
Index 217
notes on Contributors
fauzia erfan ahmed has worked in gender and development projects with the
united nations and grassroots organizations in the global south as well as with
African American communities in the US. Her current research focuses on Islam
and theories of masculinity and feminist. She is writing a book entitled, Redefining
Manhood: Gender Empowerment, Poverty Alleviation and Masculinity, based
on her ethnographic research with Grameen Bank sharecropper families in
Bangladesh. Her writings have appeared in the National Women’s Studies
Association Journal, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, and the
Encyclopedia for Women in Muslim Cultures. She is currently Assistant Professor
of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Miami University in Ohio.
Cassandra Balchin is an independent researcher, writer and human rights
advocacy trainer, specializing in the interconnections between gender, law and
culture. She is a founder of the Muslim Women’s Network-UK, is on the Planning
Committee for Musawah: a Global Movement for equality & Justice in the
Muslim Family, and has been part of the international network, Women living
Under Muslim Laws for over 15 years. She has published on Muslim family laws,
and international development policy regarding gender and religion.
Marjo Buitelaar is associate professor anthropology of Muslim societies at
the Faculty of theology & religious studies, university of Groningen, the
Netherlands. Her present research focuses on the narrative construction of identity
by descendants of Moroccan migrants in the netherlands and on the practice of
islam in everyday life in Morocco
Halleh Ghorashi is professor of Management of Diversity and integration in
the Department of Culture, organization, and Management at the Vu university
Amsterdam. Professor Ghorashi received her PhD in Anthropology and Women’s
studies from the University of Nijmegen (2001). She is the author of Ways to
Survive, Battles to Win: Iranian Women Exiles in the Netherlands and the US
(2003, nova science publishers, new York) and several articles on questions of
identity, diaspora, diversity in organizations and (Iranian) women’s movement.
her most recent publication is the edited volume, Paradoxes of Cultural
Recognition: Perspectives from Northern Europe (together with S. Alghasi and
T.H. Eriksen, eds, Ashgate 2009). As an active participant in the Dutch public
debates on diversity and integration issues, she has received several awards. Most
recently, the 2008 De Triomf award for her work on and with migrant women. She
viii Muslim Diaspora in the West
is conducting research, questioning why is it important to be culturally sensitive in
this culturalist world and how can this cultural sensitivity be created while at the
same time avoiding culturalism?
fataneh farahani is an ethnologist and works at the Centre for research in
International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Stockholm University. Trained in
ethnology at stockholm university and Gender studies at Department of Women
studies at York university, toronto, she wrote her doctoral thesis under the title,
Diasporic Narratives of Sexuality: Identity Formation among Iranian-Swedish
Woman (2007) which is an ethnographical account of sexuality among iranian
women living in Sweden. Fataneh’s thesis was awarded the best dissertation in the
faculty of humanity at Stockholm University. The topic of Fataneh’s research and
teaching are primarily on sexuality, islam, postcolonial theories, diaspora, feminist
and queer theories, and masculinities and whiteness studies. She has published
in different anthologies and journals on her subjects of interest. Building upon
her doctoral thesis, Fataneh’s current research, Cultural and racial politics of
representation: a study of Diasporic Masculinities among iranian Men seeks to
examine the under-researched area of (re)presentation of masculinity and sexuality
of Iranian men in three heterogeneous cities; Stockholm, Sydney and London.
sepideh farkhondeh is a researcher and a journalist. She began her sociological
research in 2000 as a student in sciences-po paris where she completed her phD
in 2006. After years of fieldwork, she published several articles and two books
in French, most recently Civil Society in Iran, Myths and Realities, about the
obstacles and aspirations of Iran’s civil society. Since 2007, she has been working
as a journalist on a number of nation-wide French radio channels and programs
with a focus on human rights in Iran.
Jaqueline s. Ismael is professor of social Work at the university of Calgary and
is co-editor of the International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies. she has
published extensively on Canadian social policy and international social welfare,
including The Canadian Welfare State: Evolution and Transition (1989) and
International Social Welfare in a Changing World (1996). She has also written
articles and monographs on social change in the Middle east and co-authored a
number of works with Tareq Y. Ismael, including The Communist Movement in
Syria and Lebanon (1998) and The Iraqi Predicament (2004). Her latest work,
with William haddad, are entitled Barriers to Reconciliation: Case Studies on
Iraq and the Palestine-Israel Conflict (2006); and Government and Politics of the
Contemporary Middle East: Continuity and Change (2010).
shereen t. Ismael is associate professor of social Work in the school of social
Work, Carleton University, Ottawa. In addition to her book Child Poverty and the
Canadian Welfare State: From Entitlement to Charity (2006), she is the editor
of Cultural Cleansing in Iraq: Why Museums Were Looted; Libraries Burned
Notes on Contributors ix
and Academics Murdered, with Raymond Baker and Tareq Y. Ismael (2010); and
Globalization: Policies, Challenges and Responses (1999). She has published
numerous articles on Canadian and international social welfare issues. Her latest
journal articles have appeared in the Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Arab
Studies Quarterly and The International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies.
Martijn de Koning is an anthropologist working at radboud university nijmegen,
the Netherlands. In 2008 he defended his PhD ‘Searching for a ‘pure’ Islam.
Identity construction and religious beliefs among Moroccan-Dutch Muslim youth.’
Currently he is part of the research program Salafism as a Transnational Movement
focusing the production and distribution of Salafism and the development of Salafi
networks in Europe. He maintains his own weblog at http://religionresearch.org/
martijn.
Haideh Moghissi, is professor of sociology and political science and associate
Dean, Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies at York University, Toronto.
she was a founder of the iranian national union of Women and member of its
first executive and editorial boards, before leaving Iran in 1984. Her publications
(in english) include articles in refereed journals and chapters in edited volumes
and following books: Diaspora by Design: Muslims in Canada and Beyond (co-
authored, university of toronto press 2009) Muslim Diaspora: Gender, Culture
and Identity (ed.) (Routledge 2006); Three volume reference, Women and Islam:
Critical Concepts in Sociology (ed.) (Routledge 2005); Feminism and Islamic
Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis, (Zed press, 1999, winner of
Choice outstanding academic Book award) and Populism and Feminism in Iran:
Women’s Struggle in a Male-Defined Revolutionary Movement (Macmillan press
and St. Martin’s Press 1994).
Vida Nassehi-Behnam graduated from sorbonne university in paris in 1975
and was an Assistant Professor at Tehran University, Faculty of Social Sciences.
she was coordinator of the social psychology program at the institute of social
sciences and research where she directed research projects on Family and Women
studies. After leaving Iran in 1980 she worked as a lecturer and working group
animator at Nanterre University (IEP, 1982–86) and later as freelance researcher
in various international projects, including the one conducted at York university in
Toronto. Her publications include articles on sociology of family, woman and old
age, domestic violence and migration. She now lives in Paris.
Anne Sofie Roald is professor of Religious Studies and senior researcher at Chr.
Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway. Among her research interest are Islamist
movements, Islam in Europe, Islam and gender, and Multiculturalism. She has
published books and articles in Swedish, Norwegian, and English. Her publications
include Women in Islam. The Western Experience (routledge 2001); New Muslims
in the European Context. Scandinavian Converts to Islam (Brill 2005), and
