Shia Muslim Canadian women's discursive constructions of physical activity

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to explore young Shia Muslim Canadian women's discursive constructions of physical activity in relation to Islam and the Hijab. The aims of the study were primarily informed by feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial theories. Qualitative methods were favored and poststructuralist discourse analysis was used to analyze the transcripts of conversations with 10 young Hijab-wearing Shia Muslim women residing in the Ottawa or Toronto regions. The results show that the participants discursively constructed physical activity in terms of being physically active (involved in fitness activities rather than sport), feeling good about themselves (i.e., being physically and mentally healthy), and losing weight or remaining "not fat." The participants were extremely heterogeneous in their ideas and experiences but, nevertheless, a majority mentioned that they would choose Islam over physical activity if they had to make a choice between the two. Wearing the Hijab while participating in physical activity was seen by most as difficult and limiting but, in the end, neither the Islamic religion nor the Hijab were considered barriers to physical activity. Participants strongly resisted the Islamophobic discourse present in Canada, they appealed to a discourse dominant in their own communities that presents a relatively progressive interpretation of the Quran and they constructed themselves as modern Muslim subjects yet they located themselves within a dominant gendered/religious discourse on women and physical activity. In the end, the young Shia Muslim women appropriated an intersectional discourse that legitimates their refusal to choose between their right to religious freedom and their right to physical activity.