Gender Distribution amongst Progressive Muslim Activists

MA Gender Studies (Research)
Research Proposal
Gender Distribution amongst Progressive Muslim Activists

Yunus Yakoub Islam
April 2004

Research Question and Focus
"Critically analyse the gender distribution of progressive Muslims in the UK
and USA (and Canada)."

"[T]here can be no progressive interpretation of Islam without gender
justice" (Safi, 2004, p.10). This affirmation introduces a collection of
essays by a group of Muslim academics and activists from the USA, Canada,
South Africa and Malaysia who define themselves as 'progressive Muslims'.
This research will attempt to quantify gender distributions amongst selected
groups of progressive Muslim activists in the UK, USA and possibly Canada,
with the analysis comparing gender to other pertinent social factors,
including sexuality, ethnicity, religious identity and family history.

The hypothesis is that there is a relationship between gender distribution
of progressive Muslims and distributions of ethnicity and progressive Muslim
identity in the USA, Canada and the UK; and that these relationships can be
understood in terms of the unique migrant histories of the different Muslim
women populations.

Background
I am a British-born suburban male graduate professional. Since 1990, I have
also been a Muslim. In the ensuing years, much of my life has been defined
by attempts to come to terms with these two facets of my identity. The
issues of gender identity and gender justice have been crucial to the
ensuing processes of reflection, renegotiation and reconciliation. I have
explored these issues through engaging with Muslim texts and communities and
through personal reflection.

Some Muslim texts have offended my own deeply felt beliefs about gender
Justice. However, the issue of gender justice is fundamental to the
progressive Muslim outlook (Safi, 2004), and it is through engaging with
progressive Muslim discourse that I have been able to best reconcile my dual
identities. However, I have not been able to realise my reconciling identity
at the community level, due to problems locating a coherent network of
progressive Muslims within the British Muslim community.

The muted nature of the progressive Muslim voice in the UK became evident to
me during preliminary investigations into a recent progressive Muslim
publication by Safi (2004), the product of an extended dialogue between
progressive Muslim academics and activists in the USA, Canada, South Africa
and Malaysia. As part of these investigations, I approached the authors of
the 16 essays included within the aforementioned publication, to inquire
whether they were in dialogue with progressive Muslims in the UK. At the
time of writing, all responses confess to ignorance of any comparable voices
within the UK.

In the USA, progressive Muslims are now building networks outside of the
mosque, the traditional meeting places of Muslim communities. Anecdotal
evidence suggests women outnumber men in most meetings. Britain's
'progressive' Muslims meet informally and within 'Bazms', and many are
associated with Tolu-e-Islam, an international organisation founded by the
late South Asian Muslim reformer Ghulam Parwez.

This research aims to collect data on the gender of Muslims attending
'meet-ups' in North America, and from within the progressive Muslim networks
in the UK. However, this data is only the starting point of a much more
involved fieldwork approach, which will include attending the US conference,
Bazms in the UK, and also participating in online progressive Muslim
discussion groups.

My hope is to tell the story of these movements from the perspective of a
progressive Muslim gender studies practitioner.

Research Methods
1. A multidisciplinary approach, drawing on methods from religious/gender
studies. Methods will be informed by post-structuralist theories of
knowledge, which emphasize investigating the production of knowledge in
history and within a shared cultural context (Smith, 1998).
2. The use of a website running high-quality forum software, with the aim of
facilitating a discursive network of progressive Muslims within the UK.

Timetable
Year 1
(a) Exploring progressive Islamic gender discourse;
(b) Survey and participant observation with progressive Muslims in
USA/Canada;
(c) Coding of fieldwork data.
Year 2
(a) Survey and participant observation with progressive Muslims in the UK;
(b) Coding of fieldwork data;
(c) Complete dissertation.

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