PhD Oral Exam - Arwa Hussain, Religion

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This thesis considers the everyday lives of young Dawoodi Bohra women to understand how these women construct their subjectivity and embed their agency within a religious community to constitute a self that is multilayered and challenges the way religious women’s lives have been understood in scholarship. This research analyses the women’s lived experience through their understandings of dress, gender roles, mothering, and other everyday activities. The role of self-representation on social media in constructing subjectivity is also considered. This thesis argues that the lives of women in conservative religious contexts are not necessarily “encapsulated by narratives of subversion” ​(Mahmood 2005, 9)​ and that agency needs to be examined independently of such ideas and and in its specific social and cultural context. The thesis shows how religious women deploy ‘creative conformity’ (Bucar 2011) to negotiate religious and community norms in their everyday lives while remaining within the boundaries of the Dawoodi Bohra community.