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GENDER, ETHNICITY, AND RELIGION: SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION
AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONVERTS
TO AN ISLAMIC ETHIC
by
Wynona Majied-Muhammad Martinez
______________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(RELIGION AND SOCIAL ETHICS)
December 2008
Copyright 2008 Wynona Majied-Muhammad Martinez
Object Description
| Title | Gender, ethnicity and religion: social reconstruction and conversion to an Islamic ethic |
| Author | Majied-Muhammad Martinez, Wynona |
| Author email | wmajied@netscape.net; wmartinez@rgj.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Religion & Social Ethics |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-06-10 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-09-18 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Donald E. Miller |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Eliz Sanasarian John Crossley |
| Abstract | This dissertation utilizes ethnographic methods in exploring why African-American women convert to Islam. Through in-depth interviews, the author seeks to understand the experience of conversion by focusing on the life histories of twenty-six women who were affiliated with three Los Angeles-area faith communities: Nation of Islam, Muslim American Society, and a group labeled Women of the Sunnah. Pre-Islamic experiences and conversion stories were recounted during open-ended conversations. They provide the data for this research. The research and theory of social scientists, feminists, ethicists, historians and sociologists of religion were utilized to interpret the data. Islam holds particular attractiveness when African-American women are motivated by “black consciousness” and commitment to a racial uplift agenda, but it is also attractive to many who are less concerned about ethnicity and who harbor personal and pragmatic concerns. Converts value the spirituality engendered by Islamic religious practice. They also value Islam for the God-centered and moral precepts that relate to children and family life, to cohesive and prosperous communities, and to achieving justice for all people. Commitment to the group is a factor related to belonging and to developing religious mastery and social capital. Commitment to social action extends from the obligation to propagate the faith and to strengthen social structures. African-American Muslim women are consciously changing gender roles and statuses in their faith communities. The new constructions are influenced by the womanist perspectives, which black converts bring with them, influenced by African-American history and experience. More than a century removed from slavery, there remains a consciousness that rejects domination. There is no room in this context for the male domination linked with Islam.; Democratic principles have created the social context in which women as individuals are free to exercise the liberation they see granted to them by the Holy Qur’an. They urge each other to work for equality within those limits. |
| Keyword | religion; Islam; conversion; African-American women; gender; ethnography; ethnicity; black studies; social action; sociology; community activism; social ethics |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1608 |
| Rights | Majied-Muhammad Martinez, Wynona |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-MajiedMuhammad-2208 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume23/etd-MajiedMuhammad-2208.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | GENDER, ETHNICITY, AND RELIGION: SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONVERTS TO AN ISLAMIC ETHIC by Wynona Majied-Muhammad Martinez ______________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (RELIGION AND SOCIAL ETHICS) December 2008 Copyright 2008 Wynona Majied-Muhammad Martinez |
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