Post date: Oct 13, 2016 8:58:22 PM
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Small Group Discussion Questions
1. Consider the significance of Ashura in relation to the authentication of Islam. How do the changes in its commemoration exhibit the spiritual progress of authenticated Islam?
2. How do Fernea’s descriptions of public and private piety in Marrakech correspond (or not) to Deeb’s analysis of authentication?
3. Contrast the opinion expressed by Hajjeh Zahra with current western media portrayals of muslim women and Deebs description of the pious modern. Hajjeh Zahra : “Whenever I feel at all restricted, I remember the alternative for women, and I remember that God loves us, and that he can see these things more clearly that we can, so he puts these restrictions to protect us from ourselves. Because there is abuse of women! Women are measured by their bodies or appearances, beauty, and sex, having to sell themselves. If this is the price we pay for being feminine, the hijab is needed. Because I wear the h'ijab, I know that whenever I am accepted it is because I am capable. There is no other factor, I know that I am accepted for my abilities. I have more self-acceptance this way, more self-worth. In the hijab, when a woman is accepted, it is because of her merit. This is why I can speak my mind in any situation, because I know that because of my hijab, I am seen as a person, not a female” (p. 114)
4. Thinking about the representation of the women and Meddahatts in “A little for my heart and a little for my god” and Deeb’s portrayal of Shi’i women from al-Dahiyya, consider and discuss the following dichotomies: (1) Private vs. Public Space (2) Tradition vs. Progression (3) Constraint vs. Liberation
5. How does Deeb understand linguistic difference within the Shi’i community as indicative of multiplicity in “modernity.”
6. How do the Orientalist views that were encountered in class conflict with ideas the Deeb presents about religiosity as a legitimate foundation of modernity.
Class Discussion Questions
1. In alignment with Deeb’s analysis of authenticated Islam, how does this image depict multiplicity in modernities? How does Deeb’s exploration of the pious modern serve to counter or reinforce historical and current orientalist representations of women in the middle east?
2. How does the analytic style of this ethnography assist in and/or diminish the effectiveness of Deeb’s arguments?