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Abstract
Previous research has shown that, after migration, some immigrant Muslim men experience a surge of marital conflicts—from the extent of their involvement in domestic labour, through challenges regarding the headship role of the household, to issues of divorce and child custody. In most cases, such conflicts surface against the background of a deeper conflict between the cultural gender norms in their old and new countries. There is, however, little research on how those immigrant Muslim men manage and respond to such emotional and relationship conflicts, setting the stage for stereotypical accounts based on some false Orientalist and neo-Orientalist assumptions. Based on 33 interviews with Afghan Muslim immigrant men and drawing on Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance as well as Berry’s typology of immigrant acculturation, this study shows the diversity of: (a) the issues over which such conflicts emerge; and (b) the responses the subjects develop vis-à-vis those conflicts. The findings provide the contours of a theoretical framework for understanding the changing and diverse nature of Muslim masculinity in future research.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
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3 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights, New York: HarperCollins, 2021; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, New York: HarperCollins, 2015; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006; Irshad Manji, The Trouble with Islam Today: A Wake-Up Call for Honesty and Change, Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2010; Asra Nomani, Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for The Soul of Islam, New York: HarperCollins, 2016; Wafa Sultan, A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out against The Evils of Islam, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011.
4 Francesco Cerchiaro, “Dissonant Masculinities? Migration, Emotions and Masculinities in Marriages Between Italian Women and Moroccan Men Living in Italy”, Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2021, pp. 256–269; Francesco Cerchiaro, “Between Recognition and Betrayal the Migrant Man in The Mixed Couple: The Management of Masculinity (ies)”, Masculinities: A Journal of Identity and Culture, Vol. 5, 2016, pp. 53–78; Katharine Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands: Masculinity and Migration in Transnational Pakistani Marriages”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2005, pp. 85–105; Katharine Charsley, and Anika Liversage, “Silenced Husbands: Muslim Marriage Migration and Masculinity”, Men and Masculinities, Vol. 18, No. 4, 2015, pp. 489–508; Tasleem Damji, and Catherine M. Lee, “Gender Role Identity and Perceptions of Ismaili Muslim Men and Women”, The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 135, No. 2, 1995, pp. 215–223; Mehrdad Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, Nora: Nordic Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1999, pp. 20–33; Mehrdad Darvishpour, “Immigrant Women Challenge The Role of Men: How the Changing Power Relationship Within Iranian Families in Sweden Intensifies Family Conflicts after Immigration”, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2002, pp. 271–296; Bob Pease, “Immigrant Men and Domestic Life: Renegotiating the Patriarchal Bargain?” in Migrant Men: Critical Studies of Masculinities and the Migration Experience, eds. Mike Donaldson, Raymond Hibbins, Richard Howson, and Bob Pease, New York: Routledge, 2009; Rachmad Hidayat, “My Wife is the Boss: Muslim Men Negotiating Masculinity in Australia”, in Muslim Identity Formation in Religiously Diverse Society, eds. Derya Iner, and Salih Yucel, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2015; Pam Nilan, Mike Donaldson, and Richard Howson, “Indonesian Muslim Masculinities in Australia”, Asian Social Science, Vol. 3, No. 9, 2007, pp. 18–27; Asifa Siraj, “‘Because I’m the Man! I’m the Head’: British Married Muslims and the Patriarchal Family Structure”, Contemporary Islam, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2010, pp. 195–214.
5 See: Raewyn Connell, Masculinities, Oakland: University of California Press, 2005.
6 See: Smeeta Mishra, “Saving Muslim Women and Fighting Muslim Men: Analysis of Representations in the New York Times”, Global Media Journal, Vol. 6, No. 11, 2007, pp. 1–20.
7 Government of Canada, Supporting Afghan Nations: About the Special Programs, 2021, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/afghanistan/special-measures.html (accessed 5 February 2022).
8 For a glimpse into the rise of new social anxieties in the west about the migration of Afghan Muslim men, see: Fox News, “Tucker Warns We are Living Through the Biggest Influx of Refugees in History”, YouTube video, 17:33, August 18, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aezdCvWGF88 (accessed 5 February 2022); Newsmax TV, “Pallegrino: Biden Abandons his Past for a Cozy Vacation at Camp David”, YouTube video, 8:46, August 18, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiIteKF3X-k (accessed 5 February 2022); Cheryl Benard, “I’ve Worked with Refugees for Decades: Europe’s Afghan Crime Wave is Mind-Boggling,” The National Post, 2017, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ive-worked-refugees-decades-europes-afghan-crime-wave-mind-21506?nopaging=1 (accessed 5 February 2022).
9 Siraj, “Because I’m the Man! I’m the Head”, op. cit.
10 Mohammed Baobaid, “Masculinity and Gender Violence in Yemen”, in Islamic Masculinities, eds. Lahoucine Ouzgane, New York: Zed Books, 2008.
11 Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands”, op. cit.
12 Darvishpour, “Immigrant Women Challenge the Role of Men”, op. cit.
13 Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands”, op. cit.; Charsley and Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit.
14 Darvishpour, “Immigrant Women Challenge the Role of Men”, op. cit.; M. Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, op. cit.; Wida Akbari, “The Changing Family Patterns among Immigrants: An Evaluation of the Causes of Divorces/Separation among Iranian Families in Sweden,” Master’s thesis, University of Göteborg, Göteborg, 2007.
15 Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands”, op. cit.
16 Hidayat, “My Wife is the Boss”, op. cit.
17 Ibid.
18 Pease, “Immigrant Men and Domestic Life”, op. cit.
19 Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, op. cit., p. 22.
20 Pease, “Immigrant Men and Domestic Life”, op. cit.; Charsley, and A. Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit.
21 Hidayat, “My Wife is the Boss”, op. cit.
22 Pease, “Immigrant Men and Domestic Life”, op. cit.
23 Ibid.
24 Cerchiaro, “Dissonant Masculinities”, op. cit.; F. Cerchiaro, “Between Recognition and Betrayal the Migrant Man in The Mixed Couple”, op. cit.
25 Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands”, op. cit., p. 96.
26 Charsley and Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit., p. 497.
27 Darvishpour, “Immigrant Women Challenge the Role of Men”, op. cit.; Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, op. cit.
28 Ibid.
29 Charsley and Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit.
30 Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, op. cit., p. 26.
31 Ibid.
32 Charsley and Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit.
33 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1957.
34 John W. Berry, “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation”, Applied Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 1, 1997, pp. 5–34.
35 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, op. cit., p. 3.
36 Ibid.
37 See: David C. Matz, and Wendy Wood, “Cognitive Dissonance in Groups: The Consequences of Disagreement”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 88, No. 1, 2005, pp. 22–37.
38 Irem Metin, and Selin Metin Camgoz, “The Advances in the History of Cognitive Dissonance Theory”, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 1, No. 6, 2011, p. 131.
39 Pikria Meladze, and Jac Brown, “Religion, Sexuality, and Internalized Homonegativity: Confronting Cognitive Dissonance in the Abrahamic Religions”, Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 54, No. 5, 2015, pp. 1950–1962.
40 Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, op. cit., p. 177.
41 Harmon-Jones, and Mills, “An Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance Theory and an Overview of Current Perspectives on the Theory”, op. cit.
42 Meladze, and Brown, “Religion, Sexuality, and Internalized Homonegativity”, op. cit.
43 Van Wormer, Katherine, and Jeannie Falkner, “Learning About Cognitive Dissonance and Race Relations: A Study of the Personal Narratives of Older White Southern Women Who Grew Up with Maids”, Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2012, pp. 392–408.
44 Berry, “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation”, op. cit.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 The weighted data show the following proportions of Muslim residents: Ontario (55%), Quebec (23%), Alberta (10%), and British Columbia (7%), and all other provinces combined (5%).
48 Michael Atkinson, “The Empirical Strikes Back: Doing Realist Ethnography”, in Qualitative Research on Sport and Physical Culture, eds. Kevin Young, and Michael Atkinson, Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012.
49 Ibid.
50 See: Douglas Massey, Joaquin Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino, and J. Edward Taylor, “Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal”, Population and Development Review, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1993, pp. 431–466.
51 Statistics Canada, The Rise of Dual-Earner Family with Children, 2018, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2016005-eng.htm (accessed 5 February 2022).
52 Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, op. cit.
53 Ibid.
54 Cerchiaro, “Dissonant Masculinities?” op. cit.; Cerchiaro, “Between Recognition and Betrayal the Migrant Man in the Mixed Couple”, op. cit.; Charsley, “Unhappy Husbands”, op. cit.; Charsley, and Liversage, “Silenced Husbands”, op. cit.; Damji and Lee, “Gender Role Identity and Perceptions of Ismaili Muslim Men and Women”, op. cit.; M. Darvishpour, “Intensified Gender Conflicts within Iranian Families in Sweden”, op. cit.; Darvishpour, “Immigrant Women Challenge The Role of Men”, op. cit.; Pease, “Immigrant Men and Domestic Life”, op. cit.; Hidayat, “My Wife is the Boss”, op. cit.; P. Nilan, M. Donaldson, and R. Howson, “Indonesian Muslim Masculinities in Australia”, op. cit.; Siraj, “‘Because I’m the Man! I’m the Head”, op. cit.
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Hamid Akbary
Hamid Akbary is a Post-doctoral Fellow of sociology at the University of Calgary where he also teaches as a sessional instructor. His research is focused on the intersection of migration and gender identity construction among Muslim minorities in Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
Abdolmohammad Kazemipur
Abdolmohammad Kazemipur is Professor of Sociology and Chair of Ethnic Studies at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. His research interests include Muslim immigrants' socioeconomic experiences and sense of belonging to immigrant-receiving societies, as well as socio-cultural trends in the Middle East. He is the current President of the Canadian Sociological Association.