Class 10 (prof. dr. Chia Longman) Religion & Secularism (often "forgotten" dimensions of identity - religion, secularity + personal spirituality
Singh Religious agency and the limits of intersectionality
religious women's agency - lit. documents rel. women as agents, subjects of their own lives
"postsecular turn" within femism - the failure to decline religion in public & political life
why religion is forgotten? generally secular character of academia + maybe religion is not oppressed but oppressive?
Burke (2012): 4 types of rel. women's agency. Exam guestion last year
1) resistance agency
2) empowerment agency
3) instrumental agency (material, nonreligious benefits)
4) compliant agency (live up to it). might seem oppressive from the secular perspective. Taking seriously the inherent value of religious practices and desire to practice a pious way of life
Crenshaw's understanding of identity politics
most works of I - in general language/framework of identity politics which is not "unfashionable"
IP as essentialist & inattentive to intra-group differences
its depolitizing effect - focuses on ind/group experiences rather than social structures of power
LIMITS OF I
can it really provide "all-inclusive" language and thus overcome social divisions?
click to edit
Saba Mahmood (2005) Politics of Piety.
Women's piety (Egypt) can't be understood by western notions of resistance/desire for autonomy
what is agency - depends on the context
veiling and agency. Forced unveiling - freedom or oppression? Heavely gendered debate (while there're modesty practices for men too!). Burkini bans? Femen
Orthodox Jewish women's agency? Menstrual purity laws
Longman Women's circles and the rise of the new feminine: reclaiming sisterhood, spirituality, and wellbeing
I as a way of IP >> axes of identity/difference (both positive/negative) to be overcome/practiced
>< subjective wellbeing culture, elements of spirituality, more secular "personal growth", post-secular
can be viewed as sisterhood/solidarity
rise of women's spirituality/wellbeing culture in the west as a form of post-secular agency
responce to the percieved failure of (neo)liberal gender ideology
fuzziness of boundaries religion - spirituality
agency emerges here by re-valuation of femininity
is personal political?
there is feminist potential in women's circles (emerging feminist consciousness which is both oppositional & affirmative)