Globalization, cosmopolitanism, and gender in Lebanese Sunni religious education -

Abstract

I have framed my research to explore the role of women in the context of da’wa (proselytization), religious education, and religious activities such as charity or community improvement, contributing to the larger body of work on the contemporary Middle East. My research questions focus on the revival of Sunni Islam in Lebanon and my project was guided by questions of cosmopolitanism and globalization in Lebanese society, the rootedness of their teachings, and religious education and da’wa as a rebirth or spiritual transformation as all four engage with social class and education level. To research this phenomenon, I chose to study an open ders addeen group (religious study) based in Beirut, comprised of young Sunni women. Mostly university students, these young women live, work, and study in upper-class neighborhoods in West Beirut. My primary methodology was participant observation, in which I attended the meetings as a member would over the course of my research seeking to understand how these young women engage their community, conduct da’wa and study their religion. Supplementing that was in-depth interviews, which allowed me to focus on particular questions that came up during the course of my fieldwork and create a space for my interviewees to address issues they may have preferred to discuss in private. I found three different and interesting directions of thought within this overall topic, all connected by themes of class, gender, “cosmopolitanism,” globalization, and the always-adaptable Lebanese culture. These three directions of thought became the three sections of my analysis. In the first chapter I argued the idea of an “understated” da’wa, which I examined a style that reflected the societal restrictions of the educated and upper-class Lebanese social sphere in which these young women live. In my second chapter I explored the different pressures these young women experience as religious practitioners in the educated and upper-class Lebanon, arguing th