Politics, religion and gender in the maldives: Building an island nation

Abstract

In the Maldives, there is a stark contrast between, on the one hand, tourism generally organized by international travel agencies directed to islands occupied by luxury hotels or resorts, until recently the only form of tourism allowed in the country; and on the other hand, the independent tourism, recently allowed on islands inhabited basically by fishermen. A specific liberal legislation regulates the activities of the islands-resorts, which is totally different from that more conservative legislation, based on islamic precepts, that regulates the social relations in the rest of the country. We assume that this duality – one country, two legislations – helps us to understand the particular historical configuration of power relations, as well as the interpretations of the forms of the religious experience and the expressions of gender, that underlie the legitimation of conflicting ideologies of the elaboration of the maldivian national identity.