POLITICAL AGENCY IN THE BLOGGING OF THE EVERYDAY: THE CASE OF MUSLIM WOMEN BLOGGERS

Abstract

This study looks at women’s religious conviction as a form of political agency that can be both resistant and submissive. The narratives of the women in this study showed that women can be political within religious submission. These women who had been conditioned by the religious and political culture to accept and adopt a secondary role to men had found through blogging the ability to be politically expressive and authoritative. Blogging enabled them to challenge the gendered dichotomy of the private and public by allowing them to share and make significant their private experiences. This study on Muslim women bloggers contributes to the inclusive understanding of subject formation in feminist theories, indicating that women’s religious convictions can lead to material political transformations.