An Alternative Subjectivity: A Case Study on Elite Muslim Women in Malaysia

Wooi Han LEE ； Mei-Hsien LEE

《台灣東南亞學刊》 14卷1期 (2019/04) Pp. 5-47

摘要

This paper focuses on a club named the Obedient Wives Club (OWC), which was established by a group of highly educated Muslim women in Malaysia on 4th June 2011. The OWC elite Muslim women promote Islam as din (way of life), including the practice of polygamous marriage, the wife's submission to husband, etc. However, the existence of Obedient Wives Club has caused a great deal of controversy. The members are regarded as backward and victims of a patriarchal religion by the mainstream society. This paper employs text analysis methods, and also conducts in-depth interviews with eleven OWC elite Muslim women, aiming to clarify that the emergence of the Obedient Wives Club is inextricably linked with the global wave of Islamic revivalism occurred in the 1970s. Instead of seeing them as an oppressed group, this paper argues that the OWC elite Muslim women, in fact, have embraced their subjectivity in everyday life. Their decision to be ＂Islamized＂ creates an ＂ideal home＂ that provides inner and outer support for them, enabling them to react to the malaises that occur in modern societies. The OWC elite Muslim women have successfully entered the historical process as responsible subjects, becoming individuals who know, and search for, self-affirmation.

關鍵字

Obedient Wives Club (OWC) ； Islamic Revivalism ； Ideal Home ； Subjectivity

參考文獻

TAN, Yao Wei。2009。《馬來西亞一夫多妻下穆斯林女性的婚姻實踐》。埔里：國立暨南國際大學東南亞研究所碩士論文。

Abdul Hamid, Ahmad Fauzi. 2001. “Islamic Resurgence: An Overview of Causal Factors, A Review of “Ummatic” Linkages,” Ikim Journal, 9(1): 15-47.

Abdul Hamid, Ahmad Fauzi. 2009a. “Islamist Civil Society Activism in Malaysia under Abdullah Badawi: The Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) and the Darul Arqam,” Journal for Islamic Studies, 16 (3): 439-470.

Abdul Hamid, Ahmad Fauzi. 2009b. “Transnational Islam in Malaysia,” in Peter Mandaville, Farish A. Noor, Alexander Horstmann, Dietrich Reetz, Ali Riaz, Animesh Roul, Noorhaidi Hasan, Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, Rommel C. Banlaoi and Joseph C. Liow eds., Transnational Islam in South and Southeast Asia: Movements, Networks and Conflict Dynamics. Seattle: The National Bureau of Asian Research. Pp.141-165.

Abdul Khalil, As’ad. 1993. “Toward the Study of Women and Politics in the Arab World: The Debate and the Reality,” Feminist Issues, 13: 3-23.