Bodies, boundaries and desires: multiple subject-positions and micro-politics of modernity among young Muslim women in Milan

Abstract

Over the last decade, Muslim women have been the focus of public attention in Western media and in political debates on women's bodies, their freedom and forms of religiosity. In this article, I explore the notion of ‘modernity’ as a lived and embodied experience, by analyzing the different religious performances and subject-positions that young Muslim women born or brought up in Milan from childhood articulate in their daily lives. The different self-narratives and forms of spirituality they perform ask for a rethinking of the dominant Western notions of citizenship, body and freedom.