Author Biography

Samina Rehman (M. Phil, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2013) is an Assistant Professor at the Government Degree College, University of Kashmir. As a sociologist, her areas of interests are Gender Studies and Ladakh Studies.

Abstract

This paper examines the negotiation of religious identity among Sunni Muslim women in Leh, Ladakh. Although Muslims in Leh share the same socio-cultural environment with Buddhists, the differences between the two communities have become more pronounced in recent decades. The assertion of religious identity and increasing religiosity in the form of vegetarianism among Buddhists and strict veiling among Muslim women are fairly visible. Changes are also seen in religious practices, including the imposition of a strict prohibition on dance, music, and alcohol consumption among Muslims. Here, I explore the manner in which religious identity is perceived and propagated among Muslim women in urban Leh. I discuss processes of identity formation and examine the emergence of religion as the most salient source of personal and social identity among Muslim women. The research addresses the question of how women use their agency for religious activities, institutional learning, choice of dress and mobility. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, I depict socio-religious changes among them with reference to dress, mobility and lay sermons. The study discusses the motivations behind these changes and the reasons for Muslim women’s focus on the collective identity that distinguishes them from the wider Ladakhi society.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express gratitude to the informants who cooperated and shared their thoughts and views. She wishes to express her thanks to her supervisor, Dr. Tanweer Fazal, for his moral and intellectual encouragement, and her friends Dr. Shah Niwaz, Rajiv Mishra, and Thupstan Angchuk for their inputs, insights, and continuous encouragement. The author is highly indebted to prominent researcher John Bray whose guidance and interest in the research helped to shape the paper.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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