Seeking freedom in the “third space” of diaspora: Muslim women's identity in Aboulela's Minaret and Janmohamed's love in a headscarf

Hasan, Md. Mahmudul (2015) Seeking freedom in the “third space” of diaspora: Muslim women's identity in Aboulela's Minaret and Janmohamed's love in a headscarf. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 35 (1). pp. 89-105. ISSN 1360-2004

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Abstract

Muslim societies, and especially Muslim women, have often received fetishized attention in (neo-)Orientalist literature. However, opening up spaces for the voices of Muslim women especially those wearing the hijab is long overdue. Therefore, the representation of diasporic Muslim women and their multiple identities in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and Shelina Janmohamed’s Love in a Headscarf is of paramount importance. These two texts show how, face to face with possibilities and pitfalls of diaspora, Muslim women negotiate and prioritize Islamic identity in the metropolis. While immigrant Muslim men are racked with somewhat unacknowledged exilic anxieties, the challenge and possibility of Muslim women largely concern gender and religion. For a group of Muslim women, the West facilitates a critical interrogation of their feeling of identity vacillation and creates a useful framework for thinking about their religious observances, which eventually helps them conceptualize and articulate their sense of belonging. For many others, it provides a third space in which they can confidently engage in a reinterpretation of the Islamic texts and thus reclaim an identity which liberates them from culturally enacted practices of their countries of origin.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	6409/41364
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Seeking freedom, diaspora, Muslim women's identity, Aboulela's Minaret, Janmohamed's love in a headscarf
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > HQ 1075 Sex role H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > HQ1101 Women. Feminism B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc > BP1 Islam > BP87 Islamic Literature. Islamic authors > BP88 Individual authors, A-Z J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration P Language and Literature > PE English P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of English Language & Literature
Depositing User:	Dr. Md. Mahmudul Hasan
Date Deposited:	19 Mar 2015 10:11
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2017 16:02
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/41364

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