ABSTRACT

There appears to be a globally unifying discourse that suggests Muslim communities are not supportive of girls’ education¹1 Good girl.²2 Good family.. This paper aims to destabilize such a discourse by inserting the narratives of Muslim parents pursuing girls’ education in Assam’s Nagaon district. By paying attention to the concepts of bhal suwali (good girlhood) and bhal ghor (good family) articulated by parents in my study, this paper connects the performances of certain types of gender practices with the pursuit of class aspirations. It shows that good girlhood works as symbolic capital that helps Muslim parents to culturally authorize their daughters as legitimate actors in the field of education, while legitimizing themselves as good family. This paper draws attention to three practices of respectable femininity through which good girlhoods are enacted in the field of education, namely: negotiating poverty respectably, prioritizing gendered discipline, and merging career aspirations with marital prospects.

摘要

似乎有一种全球统一的话语表明穆斯林社区不支持女童教育¹1 好姑娘。²2 好家庭。. 本文旨在通过插入穆斯林父母在阿萨姆邦 Nagaon 地区追求女孩教育的叙述来破坏这种话语的稳定。通过关注bhal suwali（好女孩）和bhal ghor 的概念（良好的家庭）由父母在我的研究中阐明，本文将某些类型的性别实践的表现与对阶级愿望的追求联系起来。它表明，好女孩是象征性资本，帮助穆斯林父母在文化上授权他们的女儿作为教育领域的合法参与者，同时将自己合法化为良好的家庭。本文提请注意在教育领域塑造好女孩的三种体面女性气质的做法，即：体面地谈判贫困，优先考虑性别纪律，以及将职业抱负与婚姻前景相结合。