‘The good Muslim girl’: conducting qualitative participatory research to understand the lives of young Muslim women in the bustees of Kolkata

Abstract

This paper explores how participatory research processes aid in our understanding of a ‘proper’ Muslim girlhood in the bustees (urban slums) of Kolkata. Specifically, young women in this paper use PhotoVoice to analyse what it means to be a ‘good Muslim girl’ in the conservative Muslim slums. By focusing on clothing and the body, young women use photographs to depict societal expectations of them. This exploration points to various ways young women resist and challenge the normative understanding of the ‘good girl’ in their everyday lives. The paper shows that participatory inquiry can begin a process of dialogue amongst peers to address and support young women's desires. It ends by mapping the impact of young women's participation in this research project, and calls for new ways to quantify ‘genuine children's participation’.