IMAN-cipation - Identity politics of young muslim women within the ⇜muslim youth in Germany e.v. (mjd)⇝ between agency, submission and repression. An analysis of the transformation of gender-roles

Abstract

This contribution aims to analyze identity-constructions of young Muslim women who are members of the association of “Muslim Youth in Germany (MJD)”. An intersectional approach will highlight the diverse aspects at stake when discussing Islamic identity politics. My data is based on perennial fieldwork within the association of Muslim Youth in Germany e.V. i analyzed both collectively imparted identity constructions, as well as individual perspectives and adoptions in their intersections to give insights into processes of transformation of contemporary Islam correlated to the mediated gender order. Previous studies have pointed out the changing religiosity of young Muslims in Germany as a process of Individualization, which is admittedly considered to be a main factor of religious transformation in contemporary Islam. But my observation revealed that Individualization is rebound to and limited by processes of communitization, which decisively affect issues of gender order and gender roles. Bodies and identities of women thus become the venue of struggles for interpretational sovereignty between Islamophobia on the one hand and apologetic counter-discourses claiming an essential, true Islam on the other.