Transforming ‘everyday Islam’ through feminism and higher education: second-generation Muslim women in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article analyses how second-generation Moroccan women are integrating new ways of understanding Islam and morality into their everyday. The study is based on ethnographic research and on the life stories of young Moroccan women who attend Spanish universities. The author explores the concerns that these students share in a context in which being a Muslim woman can lead to situations of inequality and discrimination within their own intragroup, namely their families and members of the Moroccan community, as well as the non-Muslim members of Spanish society. The study reveals how the participation of these women in higher education promotes the appropriation of a discourse related to Islamic feminism. As a result of this appropriation they are able to negotiate new interpretations of religious practice and meanings of moral norms, which they integrate into their everyday world. From this perspective the study reveals the way that these young women try to construct a more inclusive identity as Muslim women living in Spain.