Conversion, Gender, Race: A Comparative Study of Women Becoming Jewish, Christian, and Muslim in the Netherlands (Gendering the Study of Religion in the Social Sciences)

This book explores the intersections of religion, gender, sexuality and race in the everyday lives of female converts in the Netherlands.In a unique comparative approach, it is based on ethnographic research in Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities.What does it mean to join a religious community as a woman in a largely secularized country?How does gender impact processes of religious conversion?How can we understand processes of racialization of converts who join a minority group?The book highlights how the formation of a religious self is shaped by gender and vice versa at the level of religious community, families and individual embodiments.It considers the apparent paradox in women’s conversion: When secular women join religious groups associated with gender conservatism, they are often perceived as lacking agency, or using their conversion primarily for external reasons (such as marriage).Underneath this assumption is a strong idea that ‘secularity’ offers women their freedom, w