Gender Studies Research Project

Plimfix

Salaams

Although I have mentioned the research proposal detailed below in a previous post, I now have a place at the University of Leeds beginning October 2004 and I have begun the reading stage of this research.

I am reposting in this section of the forum in order to gain maximum exposure and invite comments from as many sisters and brothers as possible. All thoughts, ideas and suggestions welcome.

Allah knows best

Wasalaam

Yakoub

MA Gender Studies (Research)
Research Proposal
Gender Distribution amongst Progressive Muslim Activists

Yunus Yakoub Islam
April 2004 (Commencing October 2004)

Research Question and Focus
?Critically analyse the gender distribution of progressive Muslims in the UK and USA (and Canada).?

?here can be no progressive interpretation of Islam without gender justice? (Safi, 2004, p.10). This affirmation introduces a collection of essays by a group of Muslim academics and activists from the USA, Canada, South Africa and Malaysia who define themselves as ?progressive Muslims?. This research will attempt to quantify gender distributions amongst selected groups of progressive Muslim activists in the UK, USA and possibly Canada, with the analysis comparing gender to other pertinent social factors, including sexuality, ethnicity, religious identity and family history.

The hypothesis is that there is a relationship between gender distribution of progressive Muslims and distributions of ethnicity and progressive Muslim identity in the USA, Canada and the UK; and that these relationships can be understood in terms of the unique migrant histories of the different Muslim women populations.

Background
I am a British-born suburban male graduate professional. Since 1990, I have also been a Muslim. In the ensuing years, much of my life has been defined by attempts to come to terms with these two facets of my identity. The issues of gender identity and gender justice have been crucial to the ensuing processes of reflection, renegotiation and reconciliation. I have explored these issues through engaging with both Muslim texts and Muslim communities in the UK.

Some Muslim texts have offended my deeply felt beliefs about gender Justice. However, the issue of gender justice is fundamental to the progressive Muslim outlook (Safi, 2004), and it is through engaging with progressive Muslim discourse that I have been able to best reconcile my dual identities. However, I have not been able to realise my reconciling identity at the community level, due to problems locating a coherent network of progressive Muslims within the British Muslim community.

The muted nature of the progressive Muslim voice in the UK became evident to me during preliminary investigations into a recent progressive Muslim publication by Safi (2004), the product of an extended dialogue between progressive Muslim academics and activists in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Malaysia. As part of these investigations, I approached the authors of the 16 essays included within the aforementioned publication, to inquire whether they were in dialogue with progressive Muslims in the UK. At the time of writing, all responses confess to ignorance of any comparable voices within the UK.

In the USA, progressive Muslims are now building networks outside of the mosque, the traditional meeting places of Muslim communities. These ?meet-ups? are not gender segregated, but anecdotal evidence suggests women outnumber men in most meetings. By contrast, preliminary research suggests Britain?s ?progressive? Muslims still practice gender segregation within their ?Bazms?, but these meetings have a longer history and are associated with Tolu-e-Islam, an international organisation founded by the late South Asian Muslim reformer Ghulam Parwez.

This research aims to collect data on the gender of Muslims attending ?meet-ups? in North America, and from within the progressive Muslim networks in the UK. However, this data is only the starting point of a much more involved fieldwork approach, which will include attending a progressive Muslim conference in the US, Bazms in the UK, and also participating in online progressive Muslim discussion groups. My hope is to tell the story of these movements from the perspective of a Muslim gender studies practitioner.

Research Methods

A multidisciplinary approach, drawing on methods from religious/gender studies including surveys and participant observation. Methods will be informed by post-structuralist theories of knowledge, which emphasize investigating the production of knowledge in history and within a shared cultural context (Smith, 199.
The use of a website running high-quality forum software, with the aim of facilitating a discursive network of progressive Muslims within the UK.

Timetable
Year 1
(a) Exploring progressive Islamic gender discourse;
(b) Survey and participant observation with progressive Muslims in USA/Canada;
(c) Coding of fieldwork data.
Year 2
(a) Survey and participant observation with progressive Muslims in the UK;
(b) Coding of fieldwork data;
(c) Complete dissertation.

Short Bibliography
Ahmed, L. (1992) Women and Gender in Islam Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven Yale University Press)
Badawi, J. A. (1995) Gender Equity in Islam Basic Principles (Indiana American Trust Publications)
Barbara C. Aswad, B. C. and Bilge, B. (Eds) (1996) Family and Gender among American Muslims Issues Facing Middle Eastern Immigrants and Their Descendants (Philadelphia Temple University Press)
Benn, T. and Jawad, H. (2003) Muslim Women in the United Kingdom and Beyond Experiences and Images (Bath Brill)
Bunt, G (2000) Virtually Islamic computer-mediated communication and cyber-Islamic environments (Cardiff University of Wales Press)
Castle, S. and Miller, M. (2003) The Age of Migration International Population Movements in the Modern World (London Palgrave Macmillan)
Connell, R. W (1987) Gender and Power Society, the Person and Sexual Politics (Cambridge Polity)
El Fadl, K. A. (2001) Speaking in God?s Name Islamic Law, Authority and Women (Oxford One World)
Esack. F. (1997) Qur?an, Liberation and Pluralism An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity against Oppression (Oxford; One World)
Geaves, R. (1996) Sectarian Influences within Islam in Britain With Reference to the Concepts of 'Ummah' and 'Community' (Leeds University of Leeds)
Geaves, R (2001) Continuum Glossary of Religious Terms (London Continuum International)
Geaves, R. and Gabriel, T. (2004) Islam and the West Post September 11th (London Ashgate)
Haddad, Y. Y. and Esposito, J. L. (Eds) (1997) Islam, Gender and Social Change (Oxford, Oxford University Press)
Leonard, K. I. (2003) Muslims in the United States The State of Research (New York Russell Sage Foundation)
Manger, L (1999) Muslim Diversity Local Islam in Global Contexts (NIAS Studies in Asian Topics) (London Routledge)
Moghissi, H. (1999) Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism The Limits of Postmodern Analysis (London Zed Books)
Nimer, M (2002) The North American Muslim Resource Guide Muslim Community Life in the United States and Canada (New York Routledge)
Parwez, G (199 Quranic Permanent Values (Glasgow Signature Publications)
Roald, A. (2001) Women in Islam The Western Experience (London Routledge)
Safi, O. (2004) Progressive Muslims; On Justice, Gender and Pluralism (Oxford One World)
Smith, J. A. (2000) Islam in America (New York Columbia University Press)
Wadud, A. (1999) Qur?an and Women Rereading the Sacred Text from a Women?s Position, 2nd Edition (Oxford Oxford University Press)