نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسنده

مدرس دانشگاه درحوزه مطالعات اسلامی

چکیده

همچنانی که تحقیقات جدید در زمینه انسان‌شناسی و جامعه‌شناسی تحت عنوان (روابط نژادی)  و (پذیرش فرهنگ‌های مختلف) تایید می‌کند، جوامع بشری از پیش تعیین شده نیستند بلکه به خاطر اختلافاتات بین افراد و از طریق یک سلسله ارتباطات اجتماعی، چه درسطح جهان و چه در یک منطقه محدود تشکیل می‌شوند. در بریتانیا برای مثال بعد ازمسئله سلمان رشدی یک هویت سیاسی- اسلامی ایجاد شد و رشد قابل توجه ای نمود. مبنای تشگیل این هویت اسلامی با اکثر اجتماعات دیگر که زیربنایی نژادی و قومیتی دارند متفاوت است.
این هویت اسلامی با وجود اینکه در جامعه بریتانیا یک هویت غالب محسوب نمی شود ولی از یک خودآگاهی ویژه ای برخورداراست بطوریکه به تازگی از طریق توصیف متقاوت مسایل در فضای عمومی عرض اندام نموده و بر تصمیات بزرگ سیاسی تاثیرگذار بوده‌است. اما این هویت در پایان راه نیست و در فضای خصوصی، اجتماعی و محلی و هم‌چنین در زندگی روزمره در حال رشد و تکامل است و دقیقا به همین دلیل گاهی اوقات با موقعیت‌ها و نقشهای دیگری که افراد و گروه‌ها در جامعه دارند در تضاد است. بیش‌ازهرجای دیگر این اصطکاک و کشمکش در عزم زنان مسلمان برای مجزا دانستن فرهنگ از دین به‌منظور به‌دست آوردن حقوق مضاعف مشهود است. به‌عبارت دیگر نتیجه این جنبه سیاسی دادن به هویت اسلامی، تثبیت حقوق زنان از درون بطن جامعه ی اسلامی است.
این مقاله پیچیدگی‌های هویت اسلامی – بریتانیایی را مورد بررسی قرار می‌دهد و سپس به فرصتهایی که این هویت در اختیارزنان مسلمان بریتانیایی برای کسب حقوق‌شان از دولت،جامعه و خانواده می‌دهد می‌پردازد. با پذیرش تاثیر متقابل دین، جنسیت و قومیت در زندگی روزمره زنان مسلمان بریتانیایی می‌توان متوجه شد که چگونه مفاهیمی مانند (خود) و (هویت) به حقوق معنای جدیدی بخشیده‌است و ضمینه ای شده است برای زنان مسلمان در بریتانیا تا به‌ کسب حقوق خود بپردازند. این سکوی جدید اسلامی قابلیت تغییر سیاست دولت و برداشتهای سنتی از حقوق زنان در یک کشور سکولار را دارد. این مقاله به‌منظور ارزیابی این نظریات ابتدا به بررسی شکل گیری این هویت اسلامی – سیاسی در بریتانیا می‌پردازد، سپس نشان خواهد داد که چگونه این هویت جدید  ابزاری در اختیار زنان مسلمان قرارداده، تا مفاهیم فعلی حقوق، جنسیت و قومیت را به‌چالش بکشند. در بخش سوم، این مقاله با بررسی بعضی از حقوق از یک سو و گفتمان اسلامی در بریتانیا از سوی دیگر نشان خواهد داد که چگونه زنان مسلمان در حال تغییر و تبیین مفاهیم حقوق هستند. مهم‌ترین نتیجه این مقاله این است که اگرچه زنان مسلمان یک گروه همگون نیستند، اما شکل‌گیری یک هویت روشن اسلامی در محیط‌های عمومی و خصوصی به زنان مسلمان توانایی تبیین و به دست‌آوردن حقوق را به شیوه‌ای کاملا جدید داده است.

عنوان مقاله [English]

British Muslim Women: Islamic Identity and Strategies for Acquiring Rights in the UK

نویسنده [English]

  • Katherine Brown

Lecturer in Islamic Studies

چکیده [English]

As recent anthropological and sociological research conducted under the rubric of “multiculturalism” and “race relations” confirms, communities are not pre-given but imagined, constructed by forging across differences (and not subsuming them) through extroverted webs of global and local connections. In the United Kingdom, since the Salman Rushdie Affair there has been a notable development of an emerging Islamic political identity, one that challenges constructions of identity and community based on race and ethnicity. This new “Islamic” identity is at once residual and self-conscious; it is newly articulated in the public space with new symbols and narratives impacting on wider policy decisions. Furthermore, it is contingent, negotiated within the private spheres of social/local spaces as well as global contexts of everyday lives. As a result at times this “Islamic” identity is in conflict and tension with other positions held by groups and individuals. This tension is perhaps most visible in the determination of Muslim women (and others) to separate culture from religion in order to acquire rights. In other words, a consequence of this politicisation of Islamic and Muslim identities is the assertion of women’s rights from within an Islamic context.
This paper considers the complexities of the British Muslim-Islamic identity and the positions it offers to British Muslim women to acquire rights from the State, the community and the family. By recognising the interplay of religion, gender and ethnicity in the every-day lives of British Muslim women, it is possible to reveal how notions of self-hood and identity have re-constructed rights and provided Muslim women in the UK with a platform from which to attain rights. This new “Islamic” platform has potential to transform British government policy and orthodox constructions of women’s rights in a secular State. In order to assess these insights, first this paper will examine the formation of this politicised Islamic identity in the UK. Second it will show how this new identity has provided Muslim women with tools to challenge current perceptions of rights, gender and ethnicity. Third it will look at specific rights and through examining the “Islamic” discourse in the UK it will show how Muslim women are negotiating and transforming the understanding of rights. The main conclusion of this paper is that although Muslim women are not a homogenous group, the formation of an articulated “Islamic” identity in the public and private spheres enables Muslim women to negotiate and acquire rights in new and transformative ways.

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