Bhal Suwali, Bhal Ghor: Muslim families pursuing cultural authorization in contemporary Assam

ABSTRACT

There appears to be a globally unifying discourse that suggests Muslim communities are not supportive of girls’ education¹². This paper aims to destabilize such a discourse by inserting the narratives of Muslim parents pursuing girls’ education in Assam’s Nagaon district. By paying attention to the concepts of bhal suwali (good girlhood) and bhal ghor (good family) articulated by parents in my study, this paper connects the performances of certain types of gender practices with the pursuit of class aspirations. It shows that good girlhood works as symbolic capital that helps Muslim parents to culturally authorize their daughters as legitimate actors in the field of education, while legitimizing themselves as good family. This paper draws attention to three practices of respectable femininity through which good girlhoods are enacted in the field of education, namely: negotiating poverty respectably, prioritizing gendered discipline, and merging career aspirations with marital prospects.

KEYWORDS:

• Sociology
• gender
• identities
• femininities
• girls
• globalization
• women
• South Asia
• social class

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Good girl.

2 Good family.

3 As per informal sources as disaggregated data are unavailable.

4 Extra coaching to support the learning in school. I found that there were often informal arrangements ranging for coaching for free (out of charity or goodwill for ‘gifted’ students) to paying a lower fee (in case of relatives and friends) to paying (in kind through parents labour, supply of milk, eggs, fish, vegetables, etc.)

5 Traditional Assamese attire worn as a part of school uniform in Government funded schools.

6 Literally translated to big sister, often teachers are also referred to as Baidow in Assamese medium schools.

7 ‘Bad kind of talking’ or gossiping.

8 Including doctors, engineers, and bureaucrats and hence the phrase ‘doctor-engineer’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saba Hussain

Dr. Saba Hussain is a lecturer in Sociology at Coventry University. She holds a PhD from University of Warwick, and Masters degrees from London School of Economics and Delhi University. Her research and scholarly interests includes Muslim women in south Asia, populist politics and securetization of education.