http://hdl.handle.net/10027/7191 Sun, 19 May 2013 05:58:13 GMT 2013-05-19T05:58:13Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9820 Islamic Feminism in India: Indian Muslim Women Activists and the Reform of Muslim Personal Law Vatuk, Sylvia I describe here a nascent ‘Islamic feminist’ movement in India, dedicated to the goal of achieving gender equity under Muslim Personal Law. In justifying their demands, these women activists refer neither to the Indian Constitution nor to the universalistic human rights principles that guide secular feminists campaigning for passage of a gender-neutral uniform civil code of personal law, but rather to the authority of the Qur’an—which, they claim, grants Muslim women numerous rights that in practice are routinely denied them. They accuse the male ‘ulama of foisting ‘patriarchal’ interpretations of the Qur’an on the unlettered Muslim masses and assert their right to read the Qur’an for themselves and interpret it in a woman-friendly way. Their activities reflect an increasing ‘fragmentation of religious authority’ in the globalizing Muslim world, associated with the spread of mass education, new forms of media and transport and a mobile labour force, in which clerical claims to exclusive authoritative knowledge are being questioned by a wide variety of new voices, women’s among them. Whether it can ultimately succeed is an open question but the movement is clearly having an impact, even on the clerical establishment itself, insofar as the legal issues it considers most pressing for women are concerned. Modern Asian Studies 42,2/3(2008) pp. 489–518. © 2007 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0026749X07003228 Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9820 2008-01-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/7192 Willing to Work: Agency and Vulnerability in an Undocumented Immigrant Network Gomberg-Munoz, Ruth Restriction-oriented immigration policies and polarizing political debates have intensified the vulnerability of undocumented people in the United States, promoting their “willingness” to do low-wage, low-status work. This essay draws on ethnographic research with undocumented immigrants in Chicago to examine the everyday strategies that undocumented workers develop to mediate constraints and enhance their well-being. In particular, I explore how a cohort of undocumented Mexican immigrants cultivates a social identity as “hard workers” to promote markets for their labor and bolster dignity and self-esteem. Much of the existing literature on unauthorized labor migration has focused on the structural conditions that encumber immigrants and constrain their opportunities. By shifting the focus to workers’ agency, this article complements these analyses and shows how undocumented immigrants actively navigate the terrain of work and society in the United States. The definitive version is available at DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01227.x Postprint version of article may differ from published version. Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/7192 2010-06-01T05:00:00Z