Bodies, boundaries and desires: multiple subject-positions and micro-politics of modernity among young Muslim women in Milan

Abstract

Over the last decade, Muslim women have been the focus of public attention in Western media and in political debates on women's bodies, their freedom and forms of religiosity. In this article, I explore the notion of ‘modernity’ as a lived and embodied experience, by analyzing the different religious performances and subject-positions that young Muslim women born or brought up in Milan from childhood articulate in their daily lives. The different self-narratives and forms of spirituality they perform ask for a rethinking of the dominant Western notions of citizenship, body and freedom.

Keywords:

• Young Muslin women
• modernity
• religiosity
• bodily practices

Acknowledgements

I thank Mauro Van Aken, Alice Bellagamba, Ruba Salih, Filippo Osella, Pietro Saitta and Jeffrey Cole for their valuable advice at various stages of my work. My deepest gratitude goes to GMI and the young Muslim women who have shared so much with me.

Notes

From October 2005 to February 2006 I carried out participant observation of their daily lives, conducted interviews and collected life histories. I took part in GMI (Giovani Musulmani d'Italia) Saturday meetings and followed discussions on its website. Other in-depth interviews with GMI activists were conducted in 2007 within ‘the Migrants’ Participation’ (CREAM, University of Milan–Bicocca), a project conducted by Professor Alice Bellagamba and Dr Mauro Van Aken and sponsored by Provincia di Milano–Settore Partecipazione.

Municipality of Milan, 2008.

I refer to Moroccans, Egyptians, Chinese, South Americans, Cape Verdeans and Filipinos.

The countries of origin of the participants include Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Arab Emirates, Turkey and Pakistan.

GMI participates in the international meetings organised by Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations, a transnational network of Muslim youth associations established in 1996 which aims to involve different Islamic youth associations in Europe (see http://www.femyso.org).

I use the ‘ethnographic present’, although several aspects of the lives of the people I talk about have changed. All names are pseudonyms.

Italian Law (91/1992) is based on the principle of jus sanguis. Residents in the country for almost 10 years and people who were born in Italy can obtain Italian citizenship.