Reflections and Observations from Fieldwork with Young Muslim Women Activists Based in Mumbai - Exploring Understanding(s) of Activism and Engagements

My doctoral research seeks to understand Muslim women university students’ journeys into activism as a window into the process of becoming activists. It is based in Mumbai, India and uses feminist ethnography. It particularly focuses on their personal histories, motivations, strategies, what might have supported or hindered their engagement in activism, and the specificities of the spaces (such as universities, homes, and public spaces) as sites of political activism. Breaking up understandings of Muslim women as a monolithic category, my research also recognises that all young women studied do not have the same experience, and their political participation is contextual and constantly negotiated. For this conference, I would like to share my reflections and observations from the two and half months of preliminary fieldwork recently conducted during the period July-September 2024. Apart from sharing my findings from participant observation and recorded interviews with approximately 30 women on their understanding of activism and their engagement with various types and degrees of activism and resistance as students/recent graduates in Mumbai, I will share my reflections on how I navigated my home ‘field’ to get in touch and build rapport and trust with these women students. I also reflect on the extensive journals and memos I daily wrote to reflect on my own thoughts, emotions, feelings, and progress. I argue and reflect on how emotions and feelings such as fear, anger, stress, exhaustion, pain, happiness in the everyday shaped up my fieldwork experiences. I also explore these emotions and feelings, and their connectedness to spaces, places, and people in my fieldwork journey. My study contributes to the nascent but extremely important research on Muslim women activists in India after the anti-CAA/NRC movement, which forced the world to listen to their voice, a voice that was already there but just not recognised earlier.