Islamic Piety, Corporeality and Agency

Young Mappila Women's Dissensus Over the Notion of Ideal Muslimah in Malabar

Bibliographic Data

ID3000041
AuthorsShabeera Kolakkadan (Indian Institute of Technology Madras, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume8
Issue2
Pages29
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Encounters A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2468-4414 • E-ISSN: 2468-4414
PublisherLectito Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.20897/femenc/14941
OpenAlexW4402112561
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited30

Occupied with the discourse of legal reformation of the Muslim community since the Shah Bano controversy in 1978, statist narratives of liberating Muslim women from Muslim patriarchy are conspicuous in India. However, Muslim leaders propose internal reforms and expect women to be good mothers. This article analyses the role of traditional ulema in Kerala in shaping the corporeal notions of pious Mappila women. The study also analyses the contestations and multiple discourses among pious young Mappila women toward the ulema's preaching. The findings of this study are framed through the concept of piety and the embodiment of ethical self by Saba Mahmood and Talal Asad's notion of Islam as a discursive tradition. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, digital ethnography with a sample of thirty respondents and secondary sources are the methods used. While the conception of an ethical self and piety among the pious elder Mappila women hinges on the respectful compliance of ulema's preaching of the qualities of a 'good Muslimah', the pious young Mappila women focus on the deliberative aspects of discourses around 'the good Muslimah'. This has opened up the possibilities of contestation, argumentation, and cross-checking references from the Islamic tradition to pursue a dignified and pious living

Agency (philosophy) · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics) · Islam · Piety · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Asian Studies and History · Education and Islamic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy · Religious studies

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