ANTH3021 DISCUSSION PREPARATION GUIDE
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Sexualities
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The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: XXXXXXXXXX/ XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX: 618Sexualities
Wim Peumans
and lived religion
Queer Muslim migrants in Belgium: A research note on same-sex sexualities
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Sexualities
2014, Vol. 17(5/6) 618–631
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Article
Queer Muslim migrants
in Belgium: A research
note on same-sex
sexualities and lived
eligion
Wim Peumans
University of Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Based on research on same-sex sexuality, religion and transnational migration in
Belgium, this article looks at how the process of transnational migration intersects
with the fashioning of the moral selves of queer Muslim migrants. Bringing togethe
the concept of lived religion with an anthropological notion of moral selves, I argue fo
the importance of taking into account complexity and ambivalence in the understanding
of moral subjectivities.
Keywords
Islam, morality, religion, same-sex sexuality, transnational migration
Although issues of class, ethnicity
ace and gender have often been taken into
account in migration studies, sexuality and especially same-sex sexuality has been
somewhat marginalized. Further, much existing literature focuses on the situation
in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom (Mai and King,
2009; Manalansan, XXXXXXXXXXAlthough a transnational turn in sexuality studies has
een announced over a decade ago (Povinelli and Chauncey, 1999), this is still very
much a turn in progress, with few studies on sexual (or queer) migration to con-
tinental Europe (Peumans, 2011).
While research on same-sex sexuality and religion is growing (Yip, 2010), my
aim is to offer a combined and explicit focus on religion, same-sex sexuality and
Co
esponding author:
Wim Peumans, University of Leuven, Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre, Faculty of
Social Sciences, Parkstraat 45, Box 3615, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Email: XXXXXXXXXX
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transnational migration. Yip (2010: 47–8) notes how daily-life religious practices
and beliefs of LGBTs are conspicuously absent and often based on the experiences
of LGBT Christians. This article examines the lives of queer Muslims, engaging
with debates on morality and subjectivity. It attempts to
ing McGuire’s (2008)
concept of lived religion into dialogue with Zigon’s XXXXXXXXXXconcept of moral selves,
commenting on the importance of ambivalence in the fashioning of moral subjec-
tivities (Schielke, 2009b).
To do this I question how the process of transnational migration intersects with
the fashioning of a moral self of queer Muslim migrants.1 After describing the
methodology I used in the first section, I will start from McGuire’s XXXXXXXXXXconcept
of lived religion to look at the continuities and changes the embodied religious
practices of queer Muslims go through in the process of transnational migration,
limiting my analysis to prayer and fasting rituals. In the third section, I draw on
Zigon’s distinction between ethics and morality and highlight some of the
‘moments of ethics’ (Zigon, 2008: 165) through which queer Muslims fashion a
moral self, arguing for the central importance of ambivalence and fragmentation in
understanding moral subjectivities. In the last section, I analyse an ethnographic
na
ative, which weaves together the themes discussed in the previous sections.
An ethnographic approach to same-sex sexuality, religion and
transnational migration
This research note draws from two ethnographic studies I have conducted: the first
is a project which examined sexual migration2 to Belgium with sexual migrants
from various parts of the world, focusing on two Muslim participants from this
group (Peumans, 2011); the second is an ongoing study (October 2010 – Septembe
2015)3 on same-sex sexualities, religion and migration to Belgium, specifically
focusing on queer persons with a Muslim background. Here, I use the interview
and diary data from 16 participants (nine self-identified gay men, one bisexual man,
six lesbian women) taken from across these projects, as well as interviews with
gatekeepers of LGBT organizations.
With three exceptions (Chechnya-Russia, Uganda and Tanzania) all partici-
pants hail from a country where Islam is the religion of the majority of the popu-
lation. All were raised as Muslim and grew up in a Muslim family. Islam played
considerable personal, family, community and ethnic differences in their lives and
the societies they came from. Interlocutors’ ages range from late teens to mid-40s
and the countries of origin were Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Mauritania,
Pakistan, Senegal, Russia and Uganda. Ten participants (four women, six men)
applied for asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation. Four participants (one
woman, three men) came to Belgium to pursue studies but also linked this to
sexuality. One woman ma
ied a Belgian man who she had met in Morocco
(later they divorced but she decided to stay in Belgium because of economic reasons
and because she realized she was lesbian). One Indonesian participant ma
ied a
Belgian man and subsequently moved to Belgium.
Peumans 619
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In conducting the research, I did participant observation in LGBT associations
and the LGBT scene in general; I asked participants to maintain a diary and I
conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews, both with persons from the target
group and gatekeepers from LGBT organizations. The participants were inter-
viewed face-to-face between one and four times and the interviews were conducted
in English, Dutch or French. Whenever possible I made notes during fieldwork,
which would form the basis of the field notes I wrote up after participant obser-
vation. With the exception of two participants who requested their real name to be
mentioned, I used pseudonyms to safeguard the individuals’ anonymity.
Continuity and change in lived religion: The practice of salat
and sawm
To explore how the process of transnational migration intersects with the fashion-
ing of a moral self I turn to a discussion of the continuities and changes embodied
itual practices undergo. I limit myself to two of the Five Pillars of Islam, namely
salat (prayer) and sawm (fasting, and more precisely, the most important one,
which happens during the month of Ramadan). My aim is not to assess by some
list of ‘objective’ indicators of official religiosity to what degree the participants are
eligious or not. Instead I question how people engage with religious embodied
practices on a day-to-day basis in multifarious ways, unstable and changing ove
time. Although I focus on rituals, religion is not merely a matter of adhering to
itual prescriptions and obligations, but informs a way of being in the world and
one’s demeanour toward other people, as was stressed by several participants.
For my analysis I draw from Meredith B. McGuire’s XXXXXXXXXXinsightful work in
which she urges us to turn our focus on individuals themselves. Such a focus
decentres normative religious doctrines, institutionally defined practices and beliefs
and instead asks what it is actual individuals themselves deem most significant to
their religion and how this expresses itself in everyday religious experience.
Through focusing on people’s religions-as-lived we get a closer understanding of
individual religion in all its complexity and diversity. The participants’ relationship
to the act of worship underwent considerable changes as it was observed more
diligently when they were in their homeland. Only one participant, who still iden-
tified as Muslim, had already stopped practicing Islam when he was in Algeria, his
country of origin. Apart from two participants who prayed five times a day, wor-
ship was less central to the participants’ religious experience once in Belgium.
Whether or not they maintained religious practices was now seen as a personal
matter and dependent on individual choice or practicalities. Although for most
there was a decline in the number of times they prayed, this did not mean engaging
in embodied ritual practices was less of a meaningful and deeply felt spiritual
experience when it actually happened: ‘Sometimes I will pray at home on the
mat. Or I will pray when I am wo
ied. It keeps Allah in my mind’ (Zuhail, 30s,
gay, Pakistan). Here, Zuhail points out how prayer is a technique of the body
‘through which Muslims aim to generate and maintain their commitment to the
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Islamic tradition’ (Henkel, 2005: 489). In other words, Islamic ritual remained a
point of reference in changing life-worlds (Henkel, 2005: 488).
Some queer Muslims were also reminded of the importance of praye
through religious gifts sent by their families or when they called or in one case
even visited their families in the country of origin. For example, Khalid (30s, gay,
Egypt) shared an anecdote about visits to his aunt in Egypt where she would tell
him repeatedly to make himself ready for prayer. The example and the joking way
it was told are a sign of how for most participants the experience of religion has
stretched, and become more individualized throughout the process of transnational