Abstract

MAHMOOD, Saba. Feminist theory, agency, and the liberatory subject: some reflections on the islamic revival in Egypt. Etnográfica [online]. 2006, vol.10, n.1, pp.121-158. ISSN 0873-6561.

This article argues for uncoupling the notion of agency from that of resistance as a necessary step in thinking about forms of desire and politics that do not accord with norms of secular-liberal feminism. Through an examination of the practices of women’s piety movement, part of the larger Islamic Revival in Egypt, this article suggests that agency is better understood through the paradox of subjectivation: a process that not only secures the subjects subordination to relations of power but is also the means by which she becomes a self-conscious identity and agent. Viewed in this way, agency is not simply a synonym for resistance to relations of domination, but a capacity for action that specific relations of subordination enable and create.

Keywords : agency; embodiment; feminism; Islam; resistance; autonomy.

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