Dokument

Summary:
The central question of this book is how twenty- to thirty-five-year-old Muslim working women and students in Sarajevo live their faith in everyday life, what their religious practice looks like, and what role the value of being a good person and free choice play in their self-positioning. The result of almost two years of in-depth fieldwork, a range of interviews with many different women, and a comprehensive literature review, the work offers new insights into the topic of identity construction and Muslim religious practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although situated in South Eastern Europe, specifically in the city of Sarajevo, the dissertation is also relevant further afield, specifically in Western Europe, where an opposition between ‘Islam’ and ‘Europe’ is often perceived and constructed. Challenging the idea of Islam as the Other, as a backward, non-European religion, this work draws upon qualitative research to analyse the selfpositioning of young Muslim women in Sarajevo. In doing so, it presents an alternative, if not singular view, describing how a ‘European Islam’ is lived that completely contradicts stereotypes commonly-held in Western Europe. A key point of inquiry is whether being a Muslim is increasingly in the foreground of identity formation and is understood transnationally and how the idea of being a good person is given priority over strictly following the rules of Islam. This can also provide insights for the debate on the role of Islam in the rest of Europe.

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