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NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner

Gendering Faith: Palestinian Women and the Islamic Revival

Awarded: NOK 3.5 mill.

This project will explore the causes and nature of the increasing public religiosity of Muslim women of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Current research on the Islamic Revival in the OPT focuses on political and militant aspects, most notably on Hamas. This research characterises women as auxiliaries, as biological and social reproducers of Muslim Palestinian society and its male fighters, and as victims of the Islamisation of Palestinian society, exemplified by imposed dress codes and stricte r gender segregation. We believe that this presentation gives an incorrect and misleading picture of women's involvement with the Islamic Revival, because it overlooks the potential agency and self-interests of Palestinian women that join or support group s like Hamas. This bias also overlooks the other ways in which the Islamic Revival manifests itself - as groups and networks of socio-religious non-profit organisations that engage in proselytisation, educational, and charitable work. Our project will con tribute to addressing these gaps by enabling ethnographically grounded studies by female researchers with deep knowledge of the region, religion, and language. Regional research on the Islamic Revival notes its heterogeneous and often contradictory attitu des to women's rights, from full gender equality to complete male domination. This project will provide a better understanding of women and the Islamic Revival by mapping its diversity, from conservative to progressive, between mainstream and extremist an d social and political. Also, the project will examine the demography of the women involved, in terms of age, level of education, marital and socioeconomic status, and residency - village, urban centre, or refugee camp. The research topic will be approach ed from the point of view of individual women's experiences and strategies towards building moral religious selves, as well as by examining public and collective manifestations of increased female religiosity.

Funding scheme:

NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner