Handshaking in the Secular: Understanding Agency of Veiled Turkish-Dutch Muslim Students

Abstract

The article discusses agency of second generation veiled Turkish-Dutch Muslim students by looking at the issue of handshake. Utilising the Bourdesian conceptual tool of habitus and its accompanying concepts, we present the ways in which handshaking works for our respondents. Subsequently, we show how both not-handshaking and handshaking can lead to strategic gains. While not-handshaking becomes a positive and valued feature of their cultural capital in interactions with pious Muslim men, following the handshaking norm in Dutch social interaction is widely practiced to gain benefits. Given how they act in adaptive ways, we show how women’s agency can be defined and accounted for in two ways; both through the paradigm of ‘doing religion’ (Avishai, 2008), as well as through the paradigm of agency as defined by liberal feminism.

Muslim Youth Negotiating Boundary Maintenance Between the Sexes: A Qualitative Exploration

“…Boundary maintenance entails physical or social distance between the sexes and avoidance of touching and gaze. Certain acts that fall within this category, such as handshaking, have been assigned much symbolic meaning and value (Batum, 2016) and are subjected to intense political discussions (Berger, 2014). This study makes a unique contribution to our understanding of such boundary maintenance, as it explores the differences in values and norms conveyed on this subject at non-formal Islamic education (NFIE) settings and secondary schools in the Netherlands.…”