Confronting Modernities Muslim Women in Italy

Abstract

Muslim migrants in Europe are often represented as people who move from a bounded cultural and physical location to the global world, where they are seen as either resisting or absorbing global (Western) cultural traits. This holds particularly true when it comes to representations of migrant women from Islamic countries. Indeed, in popular and often in academic understandings, there is a growing tendency to perceive Muslim women who adopt Islamic symbols as embodying an 'authentic' and traditional culture, as opposed to secularized women who, on the contrary, are often seen as hybrid or westernized - and therefore 'modern'. These discourses find an echo in a trend that is forcefully taking place in the Middle East.