Gendering Religious Authority in the Diaspora: Shii Women in Ireland

Abstract

This essay analyzes the relations between religious authority and individual autonomy among diasporic Iraqi and Gulf Shii women in Ireland. The outcome of this ethnographic research has shown that being situated in the diaspora supports the individual’s agency in searching for religious authority outside of local traditional religious frameworks. 2 The pre-and postmigration periods exhibit many changes in the women’s socio-political and religious situation. In addition, their new diasporic environment opens new spaces for religious and gender negotiations. Life in the diaspora infl uences the women’s perception of their former upbringing, their cultural and traditional backgrounds, and their religious understandings. Shii women in Ireland, in particular the younger generation, begin to perceive their parents’ lives and religious views, as well as their understanding of gender issues that are to a certain degree not adaptable anymore to the changes in their private situations and to their new lifestyle in Europe, with skepticism. Due to the political situation in Iraq, some women were forced to leave their families, husbands, or children, who were either killed in Iraq, imprisoned, or received as refugees in another country, and came to Ireland on their own. While in Iraq these women were supported fi nancially by their husbands and older sons; since being alone in Ireland, these women are now responsible for the support of their own families. The changes in their familial situation challenge traditional gender roles and require the women to search for new ways of life supported by new forms of religiosity, as the existing traditional religious understandings no longer serve contemporary needs.