Being a ‘White Muslima’ in the Netherlands Ethnicity, Friendships and Relationships—The Dutch Conversion Narrative

Abstract

<jats:p>This article, which is part of a larger ongoing project, examines relationships, friendships and levels of belonging in Dutch society, as well as in the Dutch Muslim community in narratives of women converted to Islam. The ethnicity of these women is always visible as ‘native Dutch’ and shapes their conversion narratives. This ethnography raises a number of questions that form the basis for the analysis presented here: How do Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they incorporate Dutch parameters into their Muslim identity, while at the same time weaving Islamic principles into their Dutch sense of self? The findings show how the conversion narrative can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women to serve identity formation, levels of belonging and personal (religious) choice in the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the non-Muslim population to be a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory towards women and is associated with foreignness and being the Other. It is argued that, in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, these women express their freedom of choice, which is manifested through friendships, relationships and marriages (Islamic vs. civil), while their ethnicity and conversion experience is a visible component in their identity. In so doing, these women push the limits of the archetypal Dutch identity and are able to criticize Dutch society while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam and being critical of Dutch Muslim communities to craft their own hybrid identity.</jats:p>

The Hybrid Researcher: Entering the Field, Ethnography and Research among Dutch Muslim Women from 2009 to 2019

“…To document all these women, I conducted a virtual ethnography in addition to a more traditional ethnography. Thus, in addition to physical spaces, cyberspace where many women engage in websites, blogs, vlogs and forums (with anonymous users), and announce events via email and Facebook became another meeting point for the participants in this study (see more in Lutek 2018, 2019;Hass 2020aHass , 2020b. In my previous research (Hass 2011), online platforms were widely used by participants to meet and share stories and experiences, and to teach and learn about Islam.…”

“…The analysis was based on thematic relations (Braun and Clarke 2006), arising from the field and revealed by the interlocutors who constructed the knowledge during our interviews, and who later helped with identifying and formulating outstanding themes, as part of the feminist approach I wish to advance in this paper, as well as in the larger project. Once analysis of interview data was completed, it was expanded to include analysis of categories and meanings extrinsic to the research (etic component) (see more in : Shkedi 2003) and resulted in four published papers Lutek 2018, 2019;Hass 2020aHass , 2020b. The interview was semi-structured and consisted of questions that were not formulated from previous readings and previous analyses, but were very open (first question was usually 'tell me about yourself', later on followed questions about the conversion process in the case of the New Muslimas or the rediscovering of the faith as in the case of the born Muslimas.…”

“…However, identity is also negotiated differently by Muslim women from different backgrounds. Converted Muslimas from a native Dutch background would often bring their Dutch identity to the forefront when they felt it was needed, for example when engaging in "talking back" strategies (Hass 2020b). Converted Muslimas from other backgrounds and born Muslimas had something in common that connects them to another identity, which was not only Dutch and Muslim, but also Moroccan, Brazilian or Indonesian.…”

“…The assumptions I often had of my interlocutors were that they were strong-minded, independent women who had chosen their own path, oftentimes as opposed to their family's views (see more in Hass 2020b). I assumed most of the women converted to Islam or re-discovered their faith as a result of a personal journey and less often as an outcome of a romantic relationship, as often assumed in the media or in politics (Vroon 2014;Hass 2020b). The assumptions the interlocutors had about the researcher (me), as they sometimes told me directly, were that I was personally interested in Islam and maybe would consider converting (this was assumed both by converts to Islam as well as by born Muslimas) (see also in Vroon 2014).…”

Let’s Talk about Gender

“…Islam) that is racially classed by non-Muslims as non-white. Esra Özyürek explores these racial tensions when studying German converts (Özyürek 2015), and ethnic issues are discussed by Gabriel Pirický in his study into Slovak and Czech Muslim converts (Pirický vliek Religion and Gender 13 (2023) 227-253 2018), as well as the combination of gender and ethnicity in the Dutch context, where Bat Sheva Hass observed how these intersections shape women's conversion narratives (Hass 2020). Eva Midden has made similar observations in her investigation into female converts in the Netherlands but focusses on the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion of Muslims in European nations (Midden 2018).…”