Likes, Comments, and Follow Requests: The Instagram User Experiences of Young Muslim Women in the Netherlands

Abstract Young Dutch Muslim women often lead complex existences: on the one hand, they may be considered “other” to European culture and expected to conform to so-called Western values; on the other hand, they can be subject to scrutiny within their cultural and religious communities. This article explores young Dutch Muslim women’s online practices by focusing on Instagram. By discussing the theories of third spaces (Bhabha, 1994; Pennington, 2018b) and composite habitus (Bourdieu, 1990; Waltorp, 2015), we investigate the following questions: How do young Dutch Muslim women use Instagram? Wha... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Mahmudova, Lale
Evolvi, Giulia
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture ; volume 10, issue 1, page 50-70 ; ISSN 2588-8099 2165-9214
Verlag/Hrsg.: Brill
Schlagwörter: Religious studies
Sprache: unknown
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26811346
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/21659214-bja10038

Abstract Young Dutch Muslim women often lead complex existences: on the one hand, they may be considered “other” to European culture and expected to conform to so-called Western values; on the other hand, they can be subject to scrutiny within their cultural and religious communities. This article explores young Dutch Muslim women’s online practices by focusing on Instagram. By discussing the theories of third spaces (Bhabha, 1994; Pennington, 2018b) and composite habitus (Bourdieu, 1990; Waltorp, 2015), we investigate the following questions: How do young Dutch Muslim women use Instagram? What are the opportunities and constraints that they face when using Instagram? Through qualitative interviews, we discovered that Instagram helps young Dutch Muslim women express their identity in their own terms, but it presents negative aspects connected with privacy and surveillance. We then discuss the need not to generalize Muslim women’s experiences and instead to consider their selective use of Instagram and heterogeneity within Islam.