‘ Sister you’re not supposed to be wearing tight jeans with that
scarf’’: Examining discourse, identity and
young Muslim women in UK society
Bróna MurphyUniversity of Edinburgh
Objective
To investigate a corpus of young Muslim women discourse in order to discover if their use of language reveals insights into the identity of the modern-day young Muslim woman
Muslim Culture in the UK
Large Muslim presence has existed in Britain since the beginning of the 19th century: seamen and traders from the Middle East settled
in Liverpool, South Shields post-war saw Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and
Indians arrive to fill the labour shortage in industrial cities (Abbas, 2005: 18-9)
Christians accounted for 71.6 per cent of the UK population followed in second place by Muslims (Abbas, 2005)
Representation of Muslims
Muslims in the UK have become a focus of national concern and debate – ‘an alien other’ (Saaed, 2007)
They have found themselves at the centre of a new wave of suspicion and hostility as a result of the terrorist attacks and their aftermath
Britain has been seen to develop agendas of equality and multiculturalism (Modood, 2005)
Representation of Muslims
Representation of Muslims/Islam in UK and American press (McEnery, 2008; Baker, 2010) Muslims: victims or villains Women as victims, arranged marriages,
wearing hijaab
Representations of Muslims/Muslim Women in BBC News Reporting (Al-Hejin, 2009) Women: hijaab, should, allowed to
Language and Identity
Identity is ‘who we are’ (Joseph, 2004) ‘how people understand their relationship
to the world, and...how that relationship is constructed (Norton, 1997: 410)
non-fixed, non-rigid and always being co-constructed by individuals of themselves or by people who share certain core values or perceive another group as having such values (Omoniyi and White, 2006)
The Muslim Women Corpus (MWC)
20, 933 word spoken corpus consisting of Muslim women group committee meetings/discussion groups : 20-35 year olds 35-52 year olds
Participants belong to the Muslim Women’s Association of Edinburgh (MWAE) Association set up in 2005 by a group of Muslim
women who found a lack of educational and social activities for Muslim women in Edinburgh
The Muslim Women Corpus (MWC)
Meeting 1
Age Birthplace
Nationality
Education
Living Years
Aisha 25 Edinburgh
British Third Edinburgh
25
Nuha 22 Singapore
Singaporean
Third Edinburgh
3
Nasim 27 Edinburgh
British Third Edinburgh
27
Meeting 2
Age Birthplace
Nationality
Education
Living Years
Amira 27 Libya Libyan Third Edinburgh
3
Nahid 26 Libya Libyan Third Edinburgh
3
Analysis of the MWC
Exploration of the corpus using Wordsmith Tools 5 (Scott, 2008):
Keyword analysis of the MWC Collocational and concordance analysis
Expanded concordance extracts
Top 40 Keywords in MWC
Yeah, Muslim, mmh, like, mosque, Islam, women, wear, hijaab, wearing, Edinburgh, pray, prayer, married, husband, woman, feel, scarf, Koran, halal, drink, prophet, stupid, really, community, marriage, friends, Pakistan, veil, young, Jewish, wedding, family, men, he, teenagers, touch, allowed, interrogated, Ramadan
Top 40 Keywords in MWC
Yeah, Muslim, mmh, like, mosque, Islam, women, wear, hijaab, wearing, Edinburgh, pray, prayer, married, husband, woman, feel, scarf, Koran, halal, drink, prophet, stupid, really, community, marriage, friends, Pakistan, veil, young, Jewish, wedding, family, men, he, teenagers, touch, allowed, interrogated, Ramadan
Top 40 Keywords in MWC - Classification
Religion Muslim, Islam, Koran, pray, prayer, mosque, prophet, Ramadan, halal, Jewish
Gender Men, woman, women
Dress hijaab, veil, scarf, wear, wearing
Relationships friends, husband, family, married, marriage,
Celebration Wedding
Emotion/Feel verbs Stupid, touch, feel
Society/ community, drink
Authority Interrogated, allowed
Places Edinburgh, Pakistan
Age Young, teenagers
Features of conversation
yeah, mmh, like, really, he
Keywords in the MWC
Religion – Muslim
N 3-Word Cluster Freq.1 a good Muslim 82 you are Muslim 73 a real Muslim 64 real Muslim A 5
Religion - Muslim
as much as I can I want to be a good
Muslim not just a Muslim
for women to be real Muslim a good
Muslim so you have to wear hijaab
as my friend says part of being a good
Muslim as well is
is no bad eh completely there is a good
Muslim bad Muslim
it or not but you have to be a real
Muslim from inside
about Islam you have to go to a real
Muslim who believes in god and in
they should come to a real Muslim and ask him about Islam
is not is not a real is not a good Muslim I’m saying you can you can
Drink sometimes this is not a good
Muslim but still Muslim
it depends they think that’s real Muslim is very very extremist
Religion - Real Muslim
Nahid: You see when they look at me I feel that in my point of view I feel that when they look at me wearing the long ah coat they say she’s very real Muslim she’s very very extremist because it depends they think that’s real Muslim is a very very extremist that’s why I’m trying to be more ah more you know more fashion to be <laughing> show them I’m not extremist like a baby trying to fit in
Religion – Real Muslim
Nahid: If we are real Muslim we are following something not real it’s just we are stupid because we are following this guy...we are not enjoying the life like the others we are stupid
Religion- Good Muslim
Nahid: Because I don’t blame them ah to be frank I don’t blame them and yeah because of the media <laughing> yeah yeah actually because of the media when you see am ah a shop has been exploded by Muslim ah ah ah a plane has been exploded by Muslim they are looking at Muslims as terrorists <friend laughs> yeah I don’t actually I don’t blame them because this is what Muslims doing is not is not a real is not a good Muslim
Religion - Muslim
They feel that we are very very very tough tough people
Praying together we are hearing the special words
I’m going to the mosque
we are praying together
No we have been here we are tested we have problems like the others
Yeah we are we make mistakes as well
Because we are human
They can’t understand why
we are wearing hijaab
Is just like a test we are here everything is open to us
I think also though because
we are coloured in a sense
Dress – wear/wearing
That’s why I’m trying to
wear
it like this back home I’d wear it longer
there is a kind of pressure to
wear
it mmh
I thought I would wear
it to remind me that I should kind of
be judged on whether I wear
the hijaab or not
You will not get it unless you
wear
a scarf
no way I’m just going to
wear
a scarf to win it
then I realised I wanted to
wear
it
a way it’s like easier to just to
wear
it just to get by in life
Like I want to wear
it so then I wanted to wear it yeah
Very white and when they
wear
it they get a lot more abuse
Dress – hijaab, scarf, veil
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Hijaab Scarf Veil
Dress- hijaab
And no muslim is wearing
hijaab
which one should you ask about Islam
You an look at me without
hijaab
she was very so why
Covering your hair with hijaab
this is this is the main question
in that city they liked the
hijaab
Yeah
discovered they liked the
hijaab
Yeah
Can take off your hijaab
no no no
If I take off my hijaab
I will not be comfortable
Why are you wearing hijaab
because I am Muslim
Dress – veil...
Aisha: Well when I started wearing a veil about like four years ago or something I have to say that at that time a lot of my friends had started wearing it as well and that is why I started <laughing> no people would say oh you know you should kind of start wearing it now and I think that is an issue as well that people are are not not forced but there is a kind of pressure to wear it... But then after a while then and then I stopped wearing it for a bit and then I realised that I wanted to wear it ...
...Dress - veil
Aisha: I just felt it was the right thing to do and I dunno I just kind of missed it I think it just makes me feel like it does give me an identity cos I I dunno I kind of want to be part of a group or something like that...I did feel it in myself that you know I really have a need that I want I feel like I need to wear it
Dress - hijaab
Nuha: It was quite honestly my own decision it was quite like I was quite angry at a lot of things actually I thought I would wear it to remind me that I should kind of focus on God ...It reminds me to be a more independent Muslim woman cos it’s a choice I made by myself
Dress - hijaab
Nahid: I said you are not Muslim but you are woman <laughing> we share the same so you can look at me without hijaab she was very so why you are covering your hair with hijaab this is this is the main questions always we have we just like a stupid we are covering a beauty we have we are not enjoying the life like the others we are stupid <laughing> this is I’m not laughing at them I’m not ah I’m really worrying about them because they don’t know the reasons the real reason that makes me do these things in these tempting situations
Dress - hijaab
Nahid: Yeah I can remember the first time I went to Brighton the taxi driver told me “you are Muslim” “yeah” I said “yeah” he said, “yeah but are you coming alone” I said “yes nobody here with me I I’m alone no no not with my family” he said “so why you are wearing hijaab?” I said “because I’m Muslim I have to” he said “no no nobody can see you here” he said “because you are alone” <laughing> I told him <laughing> “this is not the issue” I said I can’t believe how and why they can’t understand why we are wearing hijaab even if you told him that this is the reason they never convinced you can’t convince them let them know how to it’s just aam
Dress – scarf...
Nuha: I decided not to wear it and you know I won so I was like <laughing> so I honestly started wearing it after I finished my term cos ...what example would i be if I like gave in to what other people thought I should wear but it was kinda funny cos the week after I started wearing the scarf some like random person in the supermarket came up to me and went ‘Sister you’re not supposed to be wearing tight jeans with that scarf’ <laughing>
...Dress- scarf
Nasim: <laughing> And you’re like <laughing> Nuha: I was like what <laughing> and I
honestly had no idea who I like who this person was <laughing> and I was like okay <laughing>
Nasim: So you just said okay <laughing> Nuha: It was genuine as like you know I I
presume his intentions were genuine like <laughing> genuine trying to make me a better Muslim I I say okay thank you very much <laughing> it was really strange <laughing>
Observations - Identity
Important traditional Muslim values e.g. hijaab, sense of community
How Muslims think non-Muslims perceive them e.g. stupid, extremists
A desire to be seen as ‘normal’, as human beings
A sense of realism which provides a contemporary insight e.g. clothing, fitting in
Reference List
Abbas, T. 2005. Muslim Britain: communities under pressure. Zed Books.
Al-Heijin, B. 2009. ‘What matters about Muslim women? A comparison of BBC news and Arab news 1997-2008’. ICAME 30, Lancaster, May 2009.
Baker, P. 2010. ‘Representations of Islam in British broadsheet and tabloid newspapers 1999-2005’. Language and Politics. Forthcoming.
Joseph, J. 2004. Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious. Palgrave Macmillan.
Reference List
McEnery, T. 2008. ‘Moral Panic? Representations of Islam in the British and American Press 1999-2005. ICAME 29, Ascona, Switzerland
Modood, 2005. Foreword in Abbas, T. Muslim Britain: communities under pressure. Zed Books
Omoniyi, T and White, G. 2006. The Sociolinguistics of Identity. Continuum.
Saaed, A. 2007. Media, Racism and Islamophobia: The representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media. Sociology Compass 1 (2): 443-462