Female Muslim subjectivity in the secular public sphere: Hijab and ritual prayer as ‘technologies of the self’

Abstract

This article analyses the formation of multiple subjectivities during the self-cultivation process of Muslim women living in the secular public sphere of Turkey. Through interviews with highly educated, professional Muslim women who aim to build and maintain piety (a deep connection with the divine), it asks to what extent the practices of hijab (i.e. wearing the headscarf) and ritual prayer (salat, or namaz) can be considered as technologies of self-cultivation rather than mere markers and symbols of identity. The article aims to offer new ways to think about the religious-secular divide by providing an empirically grounded contribution to the complex interactions between religious identity and women’s agency in a Muslim-majority country with a secularist state establishment.