28 ottobre 2022 h 14
Aula U7-3 Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
20126, Milano Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Feminist movements in Islamic and Muslim contexts articulate a broad array of approaches and perspectives, some of which have been perceived as contradictory in Western countries. A Western-centred narrative tends to obscure the heterogeneity of movements and of identities, relying on an essentialised “Muslim Woman”, and portraying her as a submissive victim of Islamic patriarchy. Nonetheless, Islamic feminist movements offer a highly variegated set of answers to address the patriarchal system: emerging in the 1980s, for example, some feminist movements reinterpret Islamic sources in a gender-friendly way to counterbalance the rise of the Islamic revival and of Islamic parties, which are proliferating in many countries. Some of these activists adamantly refuse the label of “feminists”, and others underline the impossibility of conciliating feminist thought and Islam. These plural and complex movements committed to the fight for gender rights highlight the historical, political, and geographical peculiarities, simultaneously trying to lay a common ground to raise inspiration, solidarity and care within a religious framework.
Thanks to an intersectional approach, sociologist Rassa Ghaffari (University of Milano-Bicocca) and anthropologist Marta Scaglioni (University of Milan) will discuss women's realities in Islamic and Muslim contexts, giving an overall view of secular and Islamic feminist movements. A dialogic moment will be dedicated to Western stereotypes and narrations on the otherized "Muslim Woman", referring to popular culture examples (books, movies, TV series).
