Assessing the Significance of Religion in Gender and Migration Studies: New Avenues for Scholarly Inquiry

• Authors: Urbańska Sylwia
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In this article I discuss the need for more systematic integration of approaches dealing with religious beliefs and practices into the discussion about sources and areas of gender social changes that occur in global migration. Firstly, starting from the discussion about negative representations of religiosity in contemporary debates, I consider from theoretical and methodological perspectives why we should move the religious dimension from the margins more to the centre of analysis. Secondly, basing on an exploratory review of empirical research about intersections of religion and gender in the lives of international migrants, I discuss findings that reveal about religion as a potential mediator in the gendered revolution. I answer how they help to understand the complexities and ambivalences of social changes and identify the areas they concern. I argue that the revolutionary potential that arises at the intersection of migration, gender and religion is not limited to changing gender orders in religious organisations. It is religious beliefs themselves that influence migrants’ everyday lives and challenge the existing gendered contract in lay areas, in work relations, civic and political participation.

Keywords

EN

global migration; religion; gender; social changes; empowerment

• Publisher: Ośrodek Badań nad Migracjami Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego oraz Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Central and Eastern European Migration Review
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 111-124

Contributors

author

Urbańska Sylwia

References

• Anthias F., Cederberg M. (2010). Gender, Migration and Work: Perspectives and Debates in the UK, in: M. Kontos, M. Liapi, K. Slany K (eds), Women in New Migrations. Current Debates in European Societies, pp. 19–51. Cracow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
• Bankston C. L., Zhou M. (1995). Religious Participation, Ethnic Identification, and Adaptation of Vietnamese Adolescents in an Immigrant Community. The Sociological Quaterly 36(3): 523–534.
• Bankston C. L., Zhou M. (1996). The Ethnic Church, Ethnic Identification, and the Social Adjustment of Vietnamese Adolescents. Review of Religious Research 38(1): 18–37.
• Bobako M. (2017). Islamofobia jako technologia władzy. Studium z antropologii politycznej. Cracow: Universitas.
• Cadge W., Ecklund E. H. (2007). Immigration and Religion. Annual Review of Sociology 33: 359–379.
• Calkings S. (2005). ‘Forsaking Their Children’: Distance, Community, and Unbecoming Quaker Mothers 1650–1700, in: D. Gustafson (ed.), Unbecoming Mothers. The Social Production of Maternal Absence, pp. 123–141. New York: The Haworth Press.
• Cao N. (2005). The Church As a Surrogate Family for Working Class Immigrant Chinese Youth: An Ethnography of Segmented Assimilation. Sociology of Religion 66(2): 183–200.
• Darvishpour M. (2002). Immigrant Women Challenge the Role of Men: How the Changing Power Relationship Within Iranian Families in Sweden Intensifies Family Conflicts After Migration. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 33(2): 271–296.
• Ebaugh H. R., Chafetz J. S. (1999). Agents for Cultural Reproduction and Structural Change: The Ironic Role of Women in Immigrant Religious Institutions. Social Forces 78(2): 585–612.
• Ebaugh H. R., Chafetz J. S. (2000). Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations. Walnut Creek: AltaMira.
• Freedman L. (1996). The Challenge of Fundamentalisms. Reproductive Health Matters 4(8): 55–69.
• Gibson K. (2001). Regional Subjection and Becoming. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 19(6): 639–667.
• Gibson-Graham J. K. (2006). A Postcapitalist Politics. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
• Goździak E. M. (2002). Spiritual Emergency Room: The Role of Spirituality and Religion in the Resettlement of Kosovar Albanians. Journal of Refugee Studies 15(2): 136–152.
• Goździak E. M., Shandy D. J. (2002). Editorial Introduction: Religion and Spirituality in Forced Migration. Journal of Refugee Studies 15(2): 129–135.
• Guest K. J. (2003). God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York’s Evolving Immigrant Community. New York: New York University Press.
• Hardy-Fanta C. (1993). Latina Politics – Latino Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Hochschild A. R., Machung A. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York, N.Y.: Viking.
• Hondagneu-Sotelo P., Gaudinez G., Lara H., Ortiz B. C. (2004). ‘There’s a Spirit that Transcends the Border’: Faith, Ritual and Postnational Protest at the U.S.-Mexico Border. Sociological Perspectives 47(2):133–159.
• Hofstede G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. London: Sage.
• Hofstede G. (1991). Culture and Organization: Software of Mind. London: McGraw Hill.
• Hüwelmeier G. (2010). Female Believers on the Move: Gender and Religion in Vietnamese Pentecostal Networks in Germany, in: G. Lynna, A. T. Bonifacio, V. Angeles (eds), Gender, Religion and Migration: Pathways of Integration, pp. 115–131. Lanham: Lexington Books.
• Hüwelmeier G. (2012). ‘The Daughters Have Grown up’. Transnational Motherhood, Migration and Gender Among Catholic Nuns. Ethnologia Europaea 42(2): 26–35.
• Hüwelmeier G. (2013). Bazaar Pagodas – Transnational Religion, Postsocialist Marketplaces and Vietnamese Migrant Women in Berlin. Religion & Gender 3(1): 76–89.
• Hüwelmeier G. (2014). ‘Our Future Will Be in India’: Traveling Nuns Between Europe and South Asia, in: E. Gallo (ed.), Migration and Religion in Europe. Comparative Perspectives on South Asian Experiences, pp. 45–57. Farnham: Ashgate.
• Jackson V. (2013). ‘This Is Not the Holy Land’: Gendered Filipino Migrants in Israel and the Intersectional Diversity of Religious Belonging. Religion & Gender 3(1): 6–21.
• Jolly S., Reeves H. (2005). Gender and Migration. Overview Report. Brighton: BRIDGE/Institute of Development Studies.
• Jones-Correa M. (1998). Different Paths: Gender, Immigration and Political Participation. International Migration Review 32(2): 326–349.
• Kontos M., Slany K., Liapi M. (2010). Introduction, in: K. Slany, M. Kontos, M. Liapi (eds), Women in New Migrations. Current Debates in European Societies, pp. 7–19. Cracow: Jagiellonian University Press.
• Kościańska A. (2009). The ‘Power of Silence’: Spirituality and Women’s Agency Beyond the Catholic Church in Poland. Focaal – European Journal of Anthropology 53: 56–71.
• Kwilecki S. (2004). Religion and Coping: A Contribution from Religious Studies. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43(3): 477–489.
• Leszczyńska K. (2016). Płeć w instytucje uwikłana. Reprodukowanie wzorców kobiecości i męskości przez świeckie kobiety i świeckich mężczyzn w organizacjach administracyjno-ewangelizacyjnych Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego w Polsce. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
• Levitt P. (2001). The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Levitt P. (2012) What’s Wrong with Migration Scholarship? A Critique and a Way Forward. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 19(4): 493–500.
• Levitt P., Jaworsky N. (2007). Transnational Migration Studies: Past Developments and Future Trends. Annual Review of Sociology 33: 129–156.
• Longman C., Midden E., van den Brandt N. (eds) (2012). Editorial: Gender and Religiosity in Multicultural Societies. Religion and Gender 2(1): 1–8.
• Mahler M. (2008). The Truth Will Set Us Free: Religion, Violence, and Women’s Empowerment in Latin America, in: C. M. Elliott (ed.), Global Empowerment of Women. Responses to Globalization and Politicized Religions, pp. 265–285. New York: Routlege.
• Mahler S. J., Pessar P. (2001). Gendered Geographies of Power: Analyzing Gender Across Transnational Spaces. Global Studies in Culture and Power 7(4): 441–459.
• Mahmood S. (2012). Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
• Małek A. (2008). Kościół i religia w doświadczeniach migracyjnych kobiet, in: K. Slany (ed.), Migracje kobiet. Perspektywa interdyscyplinarna, pp. 279–293. Cracow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
• Muszel M. (2013). Tradycyjna rola w nietradycyjnej rodzinie. Transnarodowa migracja polskich żon i matek – studium przypadku. Interalia 8: 91–103.
• Nawyn S. J. (2010). Gender and Migration: Integrating Feminist Theory into Migration Studies. Sociology Compass 4(9): 749–765.
• Ozorak E. W. (1996) The Power, but Not the Glory: How Women Empower Themselves Through Religion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 35(1): 17–29.
• Pargament K. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice. New York: The Guilford Press.
• Parreñas R. S. (2001). Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Rey J. (2013). Mermaids and Spirit Spouses: Rituals As Technologies of Gender in Transnational African Pentecostal Spaces. Religion & Gender 3(1): 60–75.
• Ryan L., Vacchelli E. (2013). Introduction: Gender, Religion and Migration. Religion & Gender 3(1): 1–5.
• Sherkat D. (2000). ‘That They Be Keepers of the Home’: The Effect of Conservative Religion on Early and Late Transition into Housewifery. Review of Religious Research 41(3): 344–358.
• Szczepanikova A. (2012). Becoming More Conservative? Contrasting Gender Practices of Two Generations of Chechen Women in Europe. European Journal of Women’s Studies 19(4): 475–489.
• Urbańska S. (2016). Czego nie dowiemy się o globalnej rewolucji płci bez badania religii w życiu migrantów. Studia Humanistyczne AGH 15(3): 51–67.
• Voicu M. (2009). Religion and Gender Across Europe. Social Compass 56(2): 144–162.
• Warner S., Wittner J. (eds) (1998). Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Williams C. P. (2008). Female Transnational Migration, Religion and Subjectivity: The Case of Indonesian Domestic Workers. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 49(3): 344–353.
• Woodhead L. (2013). Gender Differences in Religious Practice and Significance. International Advances in Engineering and Technology 13: 58–85.
• Yang F., Ebaugh H. R. (2001). Transformations in New Immigrant Religions and Their Global Implications. American Sociology Review 66(2): 269–288.