The emergence of Islamic feminisms in South Africa in the 1990s
Date
2013-06-03
Authors
Jeenah, Na'eem
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Abstract
This Research Report is an investigation of the rise of Islamic Feminisms in South Africa. I argue
that:
1. with its roots in developments within the Muslim community in the 1980s, Islamic
Feminisms in South Africa flourished from 1990 to 1998.
2. the emergence of Islamic feminisms in South Africa was based on particular readings of
Islamic scripture. The process of rereading these scriptures was assisted by a developing
international trend towards the reinterpretation of Islamic scriptures from a contextual
perspective and specifically the reinterpretation of the Qur’ān and Sunnāh from a feminist
perspective.
3. the development of political Islam in South Africa in the 1980s and its interaction with the
national liberation struggle was an important factor in the rise of Islamic feminisms.
I will narrate and analyse this history in terms of the development of several key organisations and
moments: the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa and its Gender Desk, the Call of Islam,
women’s attempts to claim space in the mosques, Muslim Personal Law, Muslim media, the matter
of Radio Islam and the funeral of feminist Shamima Shaikh. It is within this history and its broader
context of struggle in South Africa that I propose two types of Islamic feminist thought having
emerged: activist feminist thought and academic feminist thought. I will analyse these two
tendencies and show how the comparative rise of the latter affected the manifestations of Islamic
feminisms in the late 1990s.
The high point of Islamic feminisms in South Africa, I show, was in 1997-1998. I argue that the lull
in feminist activity from 1998 to 2000 was caused by several reasons, one of which was the
increased academicisation of Islamic feminisms in South Africa.
Finally, I lay out and discuss some of the challenges facing Islamic feminists in South Africa for the
future. These challenges, if met and addressed, I argue, could result in the re-emergence of Islamic
feminisms in South Africa. I thus propose ways in which the Islamic feminist agenda in South
Africa can be revived and strengthened.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities (Religious Studies), 2001