Perceptions of Self, Power, & Gender Among Muslim Women: Narratives from a Rural Community in Bangladesh

296 Pages·2018·2.45 MB·English

by  Sarwar Alam (auth.)

Sarwar Alam
Perceptions
of Self,
Power,
& Gender
Among
Muslim
Women
Narratives from a
Rural Community
in Bangladesh
Perceptions of Self, Power, & Gender Among
Muslim Women
Sarwar Alam
Perceptions of Self,
Power, & Gender
Among Muslim
Women
Narratives from a Rural Community in Bangladesh
Sarwar Alam
King Fahd Center for Middle East
Studies
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-73790-4 ISBN 978-3-319-73791-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73791-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964582
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover credit: Appu Shaji/EyeEm - Getty Images
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer
International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Annika, Ghaleeb, Ony, Anoy, Onanna, Orna, Nira, Ryan,
Sara, Zara, Rodela, Arid, Anusha, Isham, Puhama, Reeshad,
Sasha, Raiyan, Elana and Rysa.
And to my father, and late mother Henna.
P
reface
The first draft of this book was prepared in early 2009, when I was a
postdoctoral fellow (2007–2010) at the Graduate Division of Religion
at Emory University, Georgia. Emory opened up new horizons under
the mentorship of Gordon D. Newby and Vincent J. Cornell. I studied
anthropology, gender and women, early Islamic civilization, Islamic phi-
losophy as well as Arabic language and the Qur’an there. I studied more
subjects related to Islamic civilizations during my postdoctoral years than
I had during my graduate and postgraduate years.
However, it was during my teaching years at the University of
Arkansas when I prepared the final draft of this monograph. It may be
mentioned here that the manuscript is prepared based on the primary
data collected in 2005. I visited Bangladesh again in 2014 in order to
update the data and to comply with the observations of the reviewer(s).
I have recast the chapters of the previous draft and added two new
chapters after my second visit. With new data and theoretical lenses,
the revised manuscript takes on a new look. I have extensively engaged
Clifford Geertz, Sherry B. Ortner, Michel Foucault, Talal Asad, Lila
Abu-Loghod, Saba Mahmood, and Michael Peletz, among others, in
the revised manuscript. I have analyzed the new data with renewed the-
oretical frameworks that are more sociologically and anthropologically
grounded.
Within a span of a decade (2005–2014) the socioeconomic, politi-
cal and cultural environments of Bangladesh vastly changed, as reflected
in the narratives of some informants. However, the informants’ lives
vii
viii PREFACE
and practices remain unique, beyond the grasp of theories. How a poor
woman (now a widow), who was once humiliated in public for her
alleged transgression of religious boundaries, still won the local govern-
ment election by defeating other candidates for a public office, cannot
be analyzed with the post facto lenses of the theories of power. Yet, an
attempt is made in this book to analyze social realities with the theories
of power and powerlessness in relation to religion and culture.
I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Khandker Shahidul Islam,
Secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Mr. Mortuza Hossain
Munshi and Mr. Abdur Rashid Sarker who held the position of Secretary
of the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs. I am especially grate-
ful to Mr. Sarker with whom I shared my ideas and probable policy
changes several times. I also wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Shahnaj
Arefin, Mr. Abul Monsur, Dr. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Ms. Hosne Ara, Mr.
Abdul Khaleque Mallik, and Ms. Musrat Mehjabin.
I am expressing my gratitude to Mr. Abdul Hye of Chandhara, who
helped me to draw the maps of Netrakona, Purbadhala, and Chandhara.
I am also indebted to Helal kakku, Amsor bhai, Milton kakku and
Qamrul for their help in getting myself reacquainted with the people
of Chandhara. I am grateful to Ms. Bilqis and Mr. A. K. M. Siddique
for providing me every support to get myself settled at Chandhara, and
also to Jannat Popy, without whose help I would not have conducted the
interviews.
I am also expressing my gratitude to my teachers and colleagues at
Emory University. I especially thank Professors Rikia E. Cornell, Joyce B.
Flueckger, Allal El Hajjm, Rubi Lal, Laurie L. Patton, Michael G. Peletz,
Robert Phillips and V. Narayana Rao, and also to Roxani E. Margariti
and Vernon K. Robbins. Special thanks to Tarje Lacy and Nick Febian
of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory
University.
I wish to express my deep appreciation to Joel Gordon, my colleague
and mentor at the University of Arkansas, and Brink Kerr III, Margaret
F. Reid, Felicia Lincoln, Nikolay A. Antov, Thomas R. Paradise, Ted R.
Swedenburg, Spencer L. Allen, Matthew Parnell, Kaveh Bassiri, also to
Ms. Mahfuza Akhter for their encouragements and supports. I would
like to thank Mohamed Mosaad Abdelaziz Mohamed of Northern
Arizona University, and Huseyin Altinidis of Selçuk Üniversitesi, Turkey,
Jenny Kerubian, Melissa F. Gayan and Jonathan Loar for reading the
early drafts and making comments. I also wish to express my gratitude
PREFACE ix
to my friends, relatives, informants, and to the people of Chandhara,
who helped me to collect data to produce new knowledge on religion,
women, power, and powerlessness.
I am expressing my special thanks to Annika Tabassum of University
of Arkansas of Medical Sciences, who was always the first reader of the
drafts. Finally, I apologize to my wife and also to Ghaleeb for not paying
attention they deserve during the years of preparing the manuscript.
Fayetteville, USA Sarwar Alam
a
cknowledgements
I am gratefully acknowledging the support of the Graduate Division of
Religion, especially the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian
Studies of Emory University, Georgia. I am expressing my gratitude to
Gordon D. Newby and Vincent J. Cornell for their mentorship.
I am also expressing my gratitude to Joel Gordon, ex-Director of the
King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies of University of Arkansas, for
his support and mentorship in preparing the manuscript.
I am gratefully acknowledging the generosity of Continuum (now
Bloomsbury), Equinox, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern
Studies for granting me permissions for using copyrighted materials in
this book. I am also appreciating Praeger to letting me buy copyrighted
materials at a discounted price to use in this book.
xi
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Geography and Demography 43
3 Self, Identity, and Individuality 73
4 Women’s Perceptions of Agency and Power 107
5 Sources of Power and Agency 149
6 Barriers to Women’s Power and Agency 185
7 Construction of Gender and Gender Ideology 231
8 Conclusion 277
Index 283
xiii