Contested Public Spheres: Female Activism and Identity Politics in Malaysia

Description

This ethnographic monograph deals with women’s organisations in an increasingly Islamised Malaysia and how they are fighting for women’s rights and gender equality. Departing from an in-depth description of the life-world of female activists, Anna Spiegel highlights the significance of the global negotiations of gender relations for identity politics, the articulation of the local and the global within translocally acting social movements and the significance of globalisation for female agency. The study discusses the role of counterpublics in the development of subversive identity constructions and the renegotiation of the normative bases of publicness in the gendered fields of dress, cultural belonging, epistemic culture and Islam. Bringing together the global and the local, this is a global ethnography in the truest sense. This book is essential reading for researchers in the social sciences, in particular, cultural studies, subaltern studies, sociology, gender studies and Islamic studies. In addition, it is also of interest to scientists looking for new research methodologies in the study of globalisation. Front Matter....Pages 1-15 Introduction....Pages 17-29 Front Matter....Pages 31-31 Entering the World of NGOs: The Researcher’s Trajectory....Pages 33-57 Becoming an Activist: The Activists’ Trajectories....Pages 59-106 Front Matter....Pages 107-107 Negotiating Gender Equality and Legal Reforms: Women’s Organisations in Kuala Lumpur....Pages 109-147 Protecting Women’s Dignity: Women’s Organisations in Kelantan....Pages 149-183 Defending the Quality of Life in a Global Economy....Pages 185-226 Front Matter....Pages 227-227 Mechanisms of Publicness: Dress, Cultural Belonging, and Education....Pages 229-253 Constructing New Notions of Publicness....Pages 255-286 Negotiating Rights within Diversity: Translocal Networking and Comparisons....Pages 287-320 Conclusion: Translocal Knowledgescapes and Transnational Public Spheres....Pages 321-338 Back Matter....Pages 339-369