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" Muslim woman: "
Khan, Shahnaz
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1103985
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| Doc. No
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TLpq304251021
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| Main Entry
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Khan, Shahnaz
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| Title & Author
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Muslim woman:\ Khan, Shahnaz
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| College
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University of Toronto (Canada)
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| Date
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1995
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| student score
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1995
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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269-269 p.
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| Abstract
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There is a growing presence of Islamic fundamentalism within Muslim Societies and communities. This increase in fundamentalism is occurring in conjunction with continued Orientalist knowledge production about Islam and "the Muslim". Within such a context Muslim women are placed in the position of having to choose between structuring their identities within fundamentalist or Orientalist knowledge production. There are competing visions of the authentic Muslim Woman which are central to the two forms of knowledge production. Much of the information from this investigation suggests that participants, including myself, are reaching for or attempting to construct what I would call a third space of Muslim woman's identity In this dissertation, first I problematize the Muslim Woman as a construct embedded within contradictory social, political, economic, racial, and religious discourses. Then I provide analysis of interviews with fourteen women originally from the Middle East and South Asia who now live in the Toronto area. Each interview was structured to explore how the women confront, collaborate with, or challenge the construct "Muslim Woman." It appears that when individual women confront the construct Muslim Woman, expressions of ambivalence become a necessary response to the structured contradictions in the construct. Some women name the contradictions and some do not. When the structure of these contradictions remains unclear, many of the women express uncertainty and doubt about their identities as Muslim women. Even for those women who are able to articulate their Muslim identity, through articulations of its contradictions, ambivalence continues to be the ground of their ontological condition. They attempt to resolve the ambivalence but remain mired in the structural contradictions. Interventions that have an affect on the lives of Muslim women in Canada must begin within an understanding of a social dynamic which promotes continued racialization of Muslims in North America. Islam for many women is a deeply felt spiritual experience and feminist organizing and scholarship must operate within, as well as, outside of religious frameworks. It is through such a comprehensive framework that women's individual and collective struggles can be explored and advanced. ftnIn this investigation I have outlined the beginnings of this third space. Reaching for it, what it would constitute, and how it would be achieved is yet to be determined.
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| Subject
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Education
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Educational sociology
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Minority ethnic groups
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Philosophy, religion and theology
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Social sciences
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Sociology
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