[Anthropgrad] pre-field seminar - safira machrusah

[Fay.Castles]

Pre-field seminar - safira machrusah
The presentation will be on Monday, 3 September 2007 in
Seminar Room C between 9.30 and 11am.

Title:

Voicing gender jihad: Alternative conception of jihad from Indonesian
Muslim women

Abstract

In the wake of September 11, 2001 and the Bali blast in the following year
October 12, 2002, the word jihad has increasingly been used in the media
and public discourse in the Muslim world as well as in the West. In such
media and public discourse the term jihad has often been associated with
violence. The term rarely has a peaceful connotation. Moreover, the term
jihad has also been used among many Muslim scholars to justify gender
differenciation. Jihad is used to accentuate the domestication of women’s
roles and to strengthen male domination. However, those religious readings
of jihad are male dominated interpretations of religious texts. Muslim
women’s interpretations of religious texts and voices are mostly unheard.
Male dominated views of jihad have ever been adopted by groups of women
engaging in extreme forms of violent action.

Recently, Muslim women have begun to contest male dominated views on
jihad. For instance, the International Congress on Islamic Feminism held
in Barcelona 2005 calls for “gender jihad” that emphasis in criticising
sexist readings of Islam and on the struggle to achieve equal rights
(ICIF, 2005). In Indonesia, Lies Marcoes Natsir and Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir
(2003) criticise gender segregation based on the interpretation of jihad.
They further argue for reactualising fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) that
defends women’s rights.

There is, thus a need to explore how Muslim women’s view on jihad as their
voices are mostly unheard. Some of their views contest male domination in
religious interpretations. This proposed research is a step to discovering
the meanings of jihad for Muslim women, focussing on Indonesian Muslim
women. It seeks to explore “their understanding” of jihad by interviewing
and observing diverse Muslim women’s groups (ranging from literalist,
moderate to liberal groups). It will also examine how gender relations are
articulated within each group and how they influence their understanding
and practice of jihad. It is hoped that women’s perspective on jihad can
be presented as alternative voices to the current male dominated
interpretations.





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Fay Castles
Departmental Administrator
Department of Anthropology
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200
+61-2-612 52162  Fax: +61-2-612 53023
Fay.Castles at anu.edu.au
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/anthropology
ANU CRICOS Provider Number: 00120C
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