Becoming Muslims: Some Reflections on Women's Experiences of Conversion to Islam in Italy

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of several Italian women in their conversion to Islam. After describing the academic literature’s approaches to the issue of conversion to Islam in a Western context and outlining the ethnographic field, the analysis looks at how religious subjectivity is developed in different contexts. The data collected during the research underline that becoming muslim implies not only a modification of the subjects’ religious positioning but also of other axes of belonging. Using concepts developed into anthropologic and feminist literature, this article highlights that conversion is not an uncritical acceptance fo rules but an original and personal process that take place amid a continuous process of negotiations.