Muslim women in France are at the center of public debates about religion in the public sphere, gender politics and immigration. The hijab or Islamic headscarf has become emblematic of these issues. Based on ethnographic research in Petit Nanterre, a suburb 15 kilometres northwest of Paris, this dissertation examines various actors who seek to compartmentalize or shape Muslim women's identities. I begin with academic anthropological approaches to Islam and women, and with changing legal and popular definitions in France of laicite (French secularism) and its relationship to Islam. I then argue that the continued marriage-partner preference for "traditional" North African women expressed by male North African immigrants constrains the identity politics of local women, while a "cultural freezing" phenomena instils greater social pressure to enact and renegotiate certain cultural and religious mores in the banlieue. These cultural preferences are fortified by local gossip focused on women's religious and sexual propriety and by the Panopticonlike architecture of the housing projects. French feminist organizations like Femmes Solidaires ("Women in Solidarity") of ten hold neo-Orientalist positions, seeking to "save" Muslim women in the banlieue, and ultimately reinforcing negative stereotypes about the headscarf and gender politics in Muslim communities. I conclude that the women of Petit Nanterre themselves move within and without these categories as postcolonial "hybrids". While French social scientists and journalists have focused on the adaptational difficulties Muslims face in a nation legally and philosophically committed to secularism, there have been few academic studies undertaken from an ethnographic perspective focused on first-generation Muslim Maghrebian women living in the banlieue. My research emphasizes their voices and migratory experiences. I demonstrate that French Muslim women are key actors in promoting the visibility of Muslims in the West and in contemporary linkages between gender politics and religion in the public sphere. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research tested the applicability of Sylvia Walby's theoretical model of patriarchy to a case study of women working and unionizing at the T. Eaton Co. The focus was on the two time periods 1947-1952 and 1984-86 when a unionization drive was underway at Eaton's. In depth interviewing was conducted with over ninety participants in the events. Support was found for the aspects of Walby' s model that pertain to patriarchal relations within paid work. In addition, forms of women's resistance and empowerment were examined specifically in relation to the 1984 unionization events. It was found that women's political action contains components that traditional politics do not explain. Overall, the findings of this case study strongly support Walby' s position that gender inequality in society as a whole cannot be understood without the concept of patriarchy (1990). / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This thesis is an exploratory qualitative case study of Western Muslim women‟s religious experiences in Scotland. It situates piety as an object of research and was based on two and a half years of extensive participant observations and conversations with thirty Muslim women aged between 20 and 50 from diverse backgrounds, who regularly took part in religious circles where knowledge and practices of Islam are exchanged, learnt, authenticated, questioned and disseminated among the participants. It incorporated historical research methods such as library research method and interviews with the local Muslims in an attempt to research the history of Muslims‟ settlement, the establishment of mosques in Scotland and the emergence of Muslim women‟s religious gatherings in the localities. This study posed following questions: (a) How did the Muslim women individually and collectively cultivate piety? (b)What were the factors that led the women to return to their faith and attain piety? (c) What are the religious sources they used to nurture their piety? And (d) How did they approach the sources and deal with everyday situations in their surroundings as faithful and pious western Muslim women? This study has argued that piety is not a hidden characteristic in one person but it is observable through various expressions. For examples, through their collective participations in the piety circles and Islamic classes and the contributions they made for themselves, their family and the Muslim communities after they got inspired, learnt and motivated from their religious circles and members. The presence of structured organisations of Muslim women religious circles represents the presence of Muslim women‟s autonomous religious movement and their involvement in the transmission of Islamic knowledge at an informal level. It was through discussions about Islamic texts such as the texts of the Quran and Hadith during their gatherings, that the women found their own religious autonomy and the realisation that Islam serves as a liberating tool in many ways in their lives.

published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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This work examines the relationship between multiculturalism, feminism and violence against women within the context of Muslim women in Scotland.  It problematises multiculturalism and feminism by critiquing the difficulties which arise when multiculturalism is unqualified and feminism is constructed from white middle-class Western liberal values.  This illuminates the interstices created in binary thinking by employing intersectional and interdisciplinary methodologies.  The work uses categories which relate to women’s social and political status, such as human rights, citizenship, immigrants status, refugee, asylum-seeker and ‘paperless’ as they apply to women in the study.  These categories are then used to interpret violence against women as it is, or may be experienced by Muslim women in Scotland. The aim is to develop critical multiculturalism and pluralize the category ‘woman’ in order to move beyond binary notions of difference and sameness, employing intersectional approaches in a move towards a more fluid and holistic understanding of identity.  The limitations of gender as a category of analysis and the importance of ethnicity, religious affiliation, class, dis/ability, maternal status and generation in the construction of identity, changes in life-cycles and geographic location, make the appeal of an intersectional approach and methods explicit.  This is because intersectional approaches recognise that in order to create as inclusive a view as possible, there are categories which could be equally relevant.  To create responsive, flexible and cost-effective social policies there are a number of disciplines and themes to be traversed and the work moves between religious studies, gender studies, globalisation and social policy in order to contribute to the development of new, inclusive methods and theories regarding critical multiculturalism and Muslim women in Scotland.

M.A. / According to the Department of Correctional Services 1368 women were imprisoned on charges of culpable homicide, murder and attempted murder in 2001. In 2002 this figure came to 1136, meaning that a total of 2 504 women are currently serving sentences for the above mentioned crimes in South African prisons. Yet the judicial and psychological issues surrounding female murderers go largely unexplored (Dept. of Correctional Services, 6 September 2002).Debbie Jones, founder of the Heartwork Foundation dealing specifically with women in prison, also believes that the growing awareness surrounding women who kill partners in an abusive relationship is due largely to the new focus on human rights. This creates a space for raising this issue through providing a platform for organizations such as People Opposed to Women Abuse (POWA) to highlight the plight of an, up to now, marginalized group. The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation has added to this focus through their study of sentencing practices in relation to women who commit murder (Personal interview, D. Jones, 23 May 2003).The perennial fascination with violent crime and particularly murder, ensures a steady outpouring of material on the subject- be it in the form of newspaper articles, magazine features, empirical studies or biographies of notorious killers. However, this coverage is always selective and piecemeal, certainly never a solid basis for generalization. What they reveal tends to be more the preoccupations of the era than the major social trends (Cameron & Frazer, 1988). This study attempts to draw together the diverse views and information on female murder to create a unified picture of this occurrence. As shown by the various studies it is dangerous to construct a picture of a typical female killer against whom all others are measured judicially (Vetten & Ngwane, 2002). The context surrounding these crimes is therefore of paramount importance. This study is therefore not only valuable in drawing together divergent reports on women who commit murder but also to provide a possible guideline for future restructuring and reframing of the judicial and societal processes surrounding women who kill. It attempts to portray a South African picture of a hitherto unstudied area namely women who kill in the unique South African surroundings.

Cheung Yin-ki. / Thesis submitted in: December 2003. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-132). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Modern Women in Shanghai --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Modeng (Modern) --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- """Queens"": Female Students in Shanghai" --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- """Flower Vase"": Pink-Collar Women in the Workplace" --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Beautification and Modern Women --- p.69 / Chapter Chapter 7: --- Conclusion --- p.92 / Appendix --- p.100 / Bibliography --- p.121