Abstract
‘Wearing a headscarf is my personal choice.’ With this statement, Jasmina, a 16-year-old Moroccan daughter of immigrants, characterizes her position in Dutch society. The headscarf indicates her religion and, indirectly, her origins. In wearing it, she indicates to others that she is a Muslim and a member of the umma, the Muslim community. Her comment that this is her personal choice is indicative of the process of individualization that is taking place in western Dutch society, where people are increasingly faced with having to make their own decisions. The process of individualization implies detachment from collective relationships such as religious communities, but the choice to wear a headscarf appears to indicate a choice made in the opposite direction. In this article the author discusses this paradox from an anthropological perspective.
Notes
Social autonomy stands for honesty, openness, taking responsibility for oneself and others. Autonomy is not synonymous here with independence, breaking free, or going one's own way.
This research is conducted among girls and boys. In this article we focus on the girls. In a later study we shall focus on ways in which Moroccan boys identify themselves.
Students and myself conducted the research among the youngsters (most of them Moroccan, a few Dutch, Turkish and Iraqi) who attend this homework assistance programme at the Nour mosque in Gouda and their parents. (Anthropological publications about this research are: Bleichrodt, Citation1996; De Koning, Citation1997; Teunissen, Citation1997; Beukers-Baaijens, Citation1998; Dominicus-Groot, Citation2000; Berg-Rodenburg, Citation2000; Hermans, Citation2000; Van Omme, Citation2000; Baeten, Citation2001; Wiers, Citation2002; Van Zurk, Citation2002, Citation2003; Poleij, Citation2003; Soorsma, Citation2003; Woldhuis, Citation2004). Gouda has ±70,000 inhabitants, ±10% of them Moroccans.
Bleichrodt
H
(1996)
Hulpverlening aan Marokkanen in de context van cultuurverandering. De hulpverleningsmethodiek van Stichting Woonhuis en moskee Nour te Gouda (Assistance to Moroccans in the context of cultural change. The assistance method of the Private Residence Foundation and the Nour mosque in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of History, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam/Research Exchange
Wetenschapswinkel
de Koning
M
(1997)
Hulpverlening aan Marokkaanse jongens met onderwijsproblemen. De hulpverleningsmethodiek van Stichting woonhuis en moskee Nour te Gouda (Assistance to Moroccan boys with educational problems. The assistance method of the Private Residence Foundation and Nour mosque in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam/Research Exchange
Wetenschapswinkel
Teunissen
B
(1997)
Marokkaanse meisjes over huiswerkbegeleiding, religie en identiteit. De hulpverleningsmethodiek van Stichting Woonhuis en Moskee Nour te Gouda (Moroccan girls talk about homework assistance, religion and identity. The assistance method of the Private Residence Foundation and Nour Mosque in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Beukers-Baaijens
M
(1998)
Geduld doorboort marmer: de systeembenadering van Stichting Woonhuis te Gouda in de hulpverlening aan Marokkaanse gezinnen (Patience conquers all: the systematic approach of the Private Residence Foundation in Gouda in the assistance given to Moroccan families)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam/Research Exchange
Wetenschapswinkel
Dominicus-Groot
C
(2000)
Een persoonlijk geloof binnen de oemma. Een studie naar religieuze overdracht en religieuze beleving bij Marokkaanse meisjes (A personal faith within the ummah. A study of religious transfer and religious experience among Moroccan girls)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Berg-Rodenburg
Avan den
(2000)
Ik wordt een goede Marokkaanse werkende moslimvrouw. Marokkaanse meisjes aan het woord over toekomst en geloof (I will become a good, working Moroccan Muslim woman. Moroccan girls talking about the future and faith)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Theology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Hermans
A
(2000)
‘Het opvoeden van een kind is als het graveren van een steen.’ Het opvoedingsgedrag van Marokkaanse vaders in Gouda, hun opvattingen en die van hun zoons (‘Raising a child is like inscribing a stone.’ The child-rearing practice of Moroccan fathers in Gouda, their views and those of their sons)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam/Research Exchange
Wetenschapswinkel
Omme
E, van
(2000)
De opvang van Marokkaanse jongens. De hulpverleningsmethodiek van de Opvang van Stichting Woonhuis te Gouda (The rescue of Moroccan boys. The assistance method of the Shelter of the Private Residence Foundation in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Baeten
M
(2001)
Het belang van onderwijs centraal. Het bevorderen van op onderwijs gericht gedrag van leerlingen en hun ouders bij de huiswerkbegeleiding van Moskee Nour & Regionaal Centrum voor Jeugdhulpverlening/Het Woonhuis (The importance of education is central. The support of behaviour oriented towards education by pupils and their parents in the homework assistance programme of the Nour mosque and the Regional Centrum for Youth Assistance/Het Woonhuis)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Wiers
S
(2002)
Sociale uitsluiting in de hulpverlening aan Marokkaanse jongeren te Gouda. (Social exclusion in intervention for Moroccan youngsters in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam)
Van Zurk
N
(2002)
‘De leraar moet respect van jou winnen en je ouders krijgen dat omdat het je ouders zijn’. Over de onderwijspositie van Marokkaanse jongeren in Gouda. (‘The teacher must win respect and your parents get respect because they are your parents’. About the education position of Moroccan youngsters in Gouda)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Van Zurk
N
(2003)
Werelden van verschil. Over de problemen met betrekking tot Marokkaanse jongeren in het vmbo-onderwijs in Gouda, gezien door de gen van het schoolpersoneel, de Marokkaanse ouders en de jongeren zelf. (Worlds of difference. About the problems concerning Moroccan youngsters in high school education in Gouda, seen by the staff of the school, the Moroccan parents and the youngsters themselves)
(Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit/Research Exchange, Wetenschapswinkel)
Poleij
H
(2003)
Het is Allah's wil. Een onderzoek naar de rol van religie binnen de (interculturele) hulpverlening aan Marokkaanse vrouwen (It is the will of Allah. A research into the way religion works out in relation to (intercultural) intervention for Moroccan women,)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Soorsma
J
(2003)
‘Let ze maar praten, het boeit me niet’. Een onderzoek naar de wijze waarop Marokkaanse jongeren de mening van Nederlanders ervaren en betekenis geven (‘Let them talk, it doesn't hurt me’. Researches on the way Moroccan youngsters experience the opinion of the Dutch and give it meaning)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam
Woldhuis
K
(2004)
‘Het zit gewoon in hun genen’. Over problemen met Marokkaanse jongeren in het Goudse onderwijs: het ontstaan en het tegengaan hiervan, gezien door de ogen van het VMBO-schoolpersonneel. (‘It is in their genes’. About education problems with Moroccan youngsters in Gouda: the existence and how to counter it, seen by the eyes of the high school personal)
Doctoral/Masters Dissertation, Department Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam)