A01=Lieke L. Schrijvers
Author_Lieke L. Schrijvers
Category=GTM
Category=JBSF
Category=JBSF1
Category=JHB
Category=JHM
Category=JHMC
Category=QRA
Category=QRAC
Category=QRJ
Category=QRM
Category=QRP
Christianity
Community
Comparative
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnographic analysis
Ethnography
Europe
female religious identity
forthcoming
intersectionality in religious conversion
Islam
Judaism
Lived religion
minority religious experience
Netherlands
Race
racialisation in faith communities
religion and gender studies
Religiosity
Religious conversion
secularisation in Europe
Society
Women
Product details
- ISBN 9781032656496
- Weight: 480g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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 secularised 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, whilst ‘traditional religions’ would limit women’s emancipation and freedom. Drawing on insights from gender studies and religious studies, the author critically reflects on concepts and theories about women’s religiosity, conversion, and the role of gender and sexuality in the construction of a religion/secular binary. The study offers fresh and nuanced insight into the similarities between religious groups, which are usually examined individually. At the same time, it recognizes that the social context and difference in social position of the three groups studied have a deep impact on the process of conversion. The book includes analysis of how new Jewish and Muslim women deal with the experience of becoming a (racialized) minority in the Netherlands, as well as how the comparison with the experiences of Christian women reflect on Christian privilege.
Lieke L. Schrijvers is a researcher at the School of Religion and Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As a trained anthropologist, her expertise is in the field of everyday religion with a particular focus on the intersections of religion, gender, sexuality and race.
