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Pia Karlsson Minganti

About me

I am working as Assistant Professor and researcher of ethnology at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies.

Teaching

As a teacher I am involved in the education in ethnology for Swedish as well as international students, and I am also the director of our “Bachelor Program in Diversity Studies”. My teaching and research is influenced by my interest in transnational migration, religious pluralism and cultural transformations of identity and gender relations – both in the past and in the present.

Research

Current project: Religious divorce in a secular legal context: Family diversity and the role of Muslim congregations in marriage dissolution. With Mosa Sayed, Associate Professor of private international law. Funded by the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation.

I am currently member of the scientific advisory board of the Center for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society (CRS, Uppsala University), and previously for the multidisciplinary research programme The Impact of Religion: Challenges for Society, Law and Democracy (IMPACT), and specifically the thematic research area “Family, law and society”.

Since the mid-1990s and I am studying the everyday lives of Muslims in Sweden, particularly those engaged in Muslim congregations and organizations. Initially, I studied mosque-building projects and problematized the relationship between minorities and majorities, freedom of religion, politics of cultural heritage and the contestations of public space.

My doctoral dissertation Muslima. Islamic Revival and Young Women’s Negotiations on Gender in Contemporary Sweden (2007, 2014) highlights the creation of an ‘Islamic’ identity in a Swedish context. The focus is on female members of Sunni-dominated youth associations and the analysis deals with intersections of gender, religion, ‘race’/ethnicity and generation. The study is informed by feminist and postcolonial theories, and by researchers such as Saba Mahmood.

My research furthermore casts light on the (re)construction of the category Muslim, and the issues of diversity and citizenship, through the exploration of young Muslims’ everyday life and civic participation. Arenas of study are for instance: public pools, Islamic fashion, women’s shelters, practice of humor and media representations. (See list of publications to the right and below).

A previous research project "Contested Marriages: Young Muslims in Transnational Contexts" gives perspective on young organized Muslims’ experiences in different European locations, above all Sweden and Italy. The project particularly focused on negotiations surrounding the definition of an Islamic marriage, visions of one’s own future marriage and spousal choice. The project was supported by the Swedish Research Council and included a postdoctoral position at the Department of Politics, Institutions and History at the University of Bologna. There I collaborated with the EU’s FP7 research project Gender, Migration and Intercultural Interactions in the Mediterranean and South East Europe (GeMIC) under the guidance of Professor Sandro Mezzadra.

Publications

2020. Framing Religious Criticism in a Secular Cultural and Legal Order: Subsidies to Muslim Youth Organizations. In: A Constructive Critique of Religion. Encounters between Christianity, Islam, and Non-religion in Secular Societies. Lövheim, Mia & Stenmark, Mikael (eds). London: Bloomsbury Academics.

2019. Religion och samhällsengagemang bland unga svenskar. I: Unga och religion. Troende, ointresserade eller neutrala? Klingenberg, Maria & Lövheim, Mia (red). Malmö: Gleerups. Sid 165-183 (tillsammans med Maria Klingenberg och Emin Poljarevic).

2018. Review: Reina Lewis “Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures”. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(4): 521-523. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1367549417743041

2018. Religion as a resource or as a source of exclusion? The case of Muslim women’s shelters. In: Religion and welfare in Europe: Gendered and minority perspectives.  Molokotos-Liederma, Lina, Bäckström, Anders and Davie, Grace (eds). Bristol: Policy Press. Pp. 207-233.

2016. Introducing “Fourth Space”. Young Muslims Negotiating Marriage in Europe. Ethnologia Europaea, 46(1): 40-57.

2016. Muslim Intimacies. Challenges for Individuals and Families in Global Contexts. Ethnologia Europaea, 46(1): 5-9. (With Stark, Laura and Fingerroos, Outi).

2016. Politics of Visibility among Young Muslim Women. In: New Dimensions of Diversity in Nordic Culture and Society. Björklund, Jenny and Lindqvist, Ursula (eds). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pp. 41-60. (With Leila-Karin Österlind).

2015. Muslim Women Managing Women’s Shelters: Somaya, the Muslimwoman and Religion as Resource. NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 23(2): 93-108. Also published online 21 August, 2014. DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2014.935744

2014. Unga muslimer och humor som norm. I: Skratt som fastnar. Kulturella perspektiv på skratt och humor. Jönsson, Lars-Eric & Nilsson, Fredrik. Sid. 39-59. Lund: Lund studies in arts and cultural science, Lunds universitet.

2014. Islamic Identity as Third Space. Muslim Women Negotiating Subjectivity in Sweden. In: Negotiating Identity in Scandinavia: Women, Migration and the Diaspora. Akman, Haci (ed.). New York/Oxford: Berghahn.

2013. Review of Renata Pepicelli, Il velo nell’islam. Storia, politica, estetica [The Veil in Islam. History, Politics, Aesthetics]. Religion & Gender, 3(1): 132-135. http://www.religionandgender.org/index.php/rg/article/view/8169/pdf

2013. Burqinis, Bikinis and Bodies. Encounters in Public Pools in Italy and Sweden. In: Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion. New Perspectives from Europe and America. Tarlo, Emma and Moors, Annelies (eds). London: Bloomsbury. Pp. 33-54.

2013. Female Islamic Leadership in Sweden. openDemocracy 50.50, 31 January, http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/pia-karlsson-minganti/female-islamic-leadership-in-sweden

2011 (2016). Challenging From Within. Youth Associations and Female Leadership in Swedish Mosques. In: Women, Leadership and Mosques. Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority. Bano, Masooda and Kalmbach, Hilary (eds). Leiden: Brill. Sid. 371-391.

2012. Ibland ger moskén skydd till slagna kvinnor när samhället svikit. SVT Debatt, 16 maj. http://www.svt.se/opinion/ibland-ger-mosken-skydd-till-slagna-kvinnor-nar-samhallet-svikit

2010. Islamic Revival and Young Women's Negotiations on Gender and Racism. Collins-Mayo, Sylvia & Dandelion, Pink (eds). Religion and Youth. Farnham: Ashgate.

2010. Matrimoni contestati: Giovani musulmani in contesti transnazionali. Mondi Migranti, 11(2): .

2008. Becoming a 'Practising' Muslim. Reflections on Gender, Racism and Religious Identity Among Women in a Swedish Muslim Youth Organisation. Elore 1/2008. http://www.elore.fi/arkisto/1_08/kam1_08.pdf

2007 (2014). Muslima. Islamisk väckelse och unga kvinnors förhandlingar om genus i det samtida Sverige. Stockholm: Carlsson bokförlag. (Diss)

2004. Mosques in Sweden. On Identity and Spatial Belonging. Creating Diversities. Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage. Siikala, Anna-Leena, Klein, Barbro & Mathisen, Stein R. (eds). Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.

1999. Fayzas revertering. Kulturella Perspektiv, 3.

1999. Islam tar plats. Moskén och dess funktion. Blågul islam? Muslimer i Sverige. Svanberg, Ingvar & Westerlund, David (red). Nora: Nya Doxa.

1998. Politik och romantik. Muslimsk 'kvinnlighet' förkroppsligad i slöjan. Behag och begär. Kulturella perspektiv på kroppens, intimitetens och sexualitetens transformationer. Gerholm, Lena (red). Stockholm: Carlsson bokförlag.

1997. Religionsfrihet i Sverige. Om möjligheten att leva som troende. Lund: Studentlitteratur. (med Ingvar Svanberg)

1995. Moskéer i Sverige. En religionsetnologisk studie av intolerans och administrativ vanmakt. Uppsala: Svenska kyrkans forskningsråd. (med Ingvar Svanberg)

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Muslima: Islamisk väckelse och unga kvinnors förhandlingar om genus i det samtida Sverige

    2014. Pia Karlsson Minganti.

    Book
    Read more about Muslima

  • Studera uppåt: myndighetshantering av statsbidrag till en muslimsk ungdomsorganisation

    2019. Pia Karlsson Minganti. Eftertankar, 112-145

    Chapter

    Pia Karlsson Minganti lämnar ett bidrag till den etnologiska traditionen att studera uppåt och kritiskt granska olika former av beslutsfattande och myndighetsutövning. I sin text undersöker hon ett utdraget myndighetsärende där de skiftande turerna belyser synen på statliga bidrag till muslimska ungdomsorganisationer.

    Read more about Studera uppåt

  • Muslim Women Managing Women's Shelters: Somaya, the Muslimwoman and Religion as Resource

    2015. Pia Karlsson Minganti. NORA 23 (2), 93-108

    Article

    This article focuses on Sisters’ Shelter Somaya in Sweden, an organization unique in its claim to be a women’s shelter by and for Muslim women, and in its combining of Islamic and secular feminisms. Examining the organization’s self-presentations, the author argues that there is, however, an ongoing shift from an emphasis on its Muslim profile to a dissolution of the very same. Looking into potential loss in the process (for clients, activists, allies, and feminism at large), the analysis draws on current research on anti-Muslim intolerance and normative secularism. The concept of the “Muslim woman” is employed to illustrate the stereotyping that continuously associates Muslim women with “victims” inhabiting shelters rather than capable “managers”. Intersectionality is pointed at as an emic strategy adopted by Somaya to overcome division, but also critically analysed as a consensus-creating signifier that hinders diversity. Thus,the article raises the increasingly important issue of the relationship between religion, gender, and feminism in the post-secular turn, and the author calls for critical self-reflection and creative affirmation in the interaction with heterogeneous others.

    Read more about Muslim Women Managing Women's Shelters

  • Introducing "Fourth Space"

    2016. Pia Karlsson Minganti. Ethnologia Europaea 46 (1), 40-57

    Article

    Based on interviews with young persons in two national Muslim youth organizations in Europe, this article examines how young Muslims negotiate between the cultural customs of their societiesof origin, their everyday experiences in Europe, and the global Muslim public sphere. In seekinga universal “true” core of Islam, these young persons create their own version of Islam, a “fourthspace” in which they reinterpret the authoritative source texts of Islam in light of personal diasporicexperiences in Europe. This reinterpretation becomes particularly pertinent in the context of planningfor future marriage, where they jointly construct new understandings of Islam to argue for inter-ethnic marriages and later age at marriage, to argue against coercion in arranged marriages, tooppose polygyny and to portray the stigmatization of divorce as counter to the true spirit of Islam.

    Read more about Introducing "Fourth Space"

  • Challenging From Within: Youth Associations and Female Leadership in Swedish Mosques

    2011. Pia Karlsson Minganti. Women, Leadership and Mosques, 371-391

    Chapter

    This chapter focuses on women members of the Sunnī-dominated national organization Sweden's Young Muslims (Sveriges Unga Muslimer, SUM) and some of its local youth associations in different Swedish towns, to argue that involvement with these associations is increasing Muslim women's engagement with mosques and other venues for acquisition of Islamic knowledge. Illuminating the continuous challenges to the women's presence in mosques and their wider public activism the chapter examines how these women defend their right to exercise religious authority while supporting the traditional sources of Muslim authority in the public sphere. It analyzes how the women reinterpret the Islamic texts to change their daily lives as well as their position within both the Muslim community and Swedish society as a whole. The chapter emphasizes that in more informal situations, backstage among peers, the women put gender on the agenda, initiate reflexive deliberations, and test alternative norms and practices.

    Read more about Challenging From Within

  • Politik och romantik: Muslimsk "kvinnlighet" förkroppsligad i slöjan

    1998. Pia Karlsson. Behag och begär, 106-145

    Chapter

    Många muslimska kvinnor utsatts för ett omfattande förtryck med våld som yttersta sanktion. Somliga skulle säga att alla muslimska kvinnor utsatts för förtryck. Återigen andra skule säga att överhuvudtaget alla kvinnor i majoriteten av världens kulturer i någon form är förtryckta. Debatten om kvinnors möjligheter och rättigheter har förts upp på den samhällspolitiska agendan och attraherar allt fler deltagare. I svensk samhällsdebatt ägnas den muslimska slöjan som symbol för repression ett relativt stort utrymme och engagerar människor på såväl akademisk, politisk som vardaglig nivå. Detta innefattar svenskar utan egna erfarenheter av utövande av islamiska påbud, svenska konvertiter utan erfarenheter av att leva i muslimska samhällen och muslimer vars erfarenheter har formatt dem att aktivt ta ställning mot slojan. I denna uppsats vill jag, utan normativa förtecken, låta två muslimska kvinnor med ett till synes mer positivt eller neutralt förhållande till slöjan komma till tals. Syftet ar att undersöka deras relation till slöjan och hur denna eventuellt förändras i en svensk kontext. Genom att ge kvinnornas berättelser om deras egen praktik och erfarenhet utrymme hoppas jälva och med andra informanter hade andra perspektiv på denna komplexa frågeställning hamnat i fokus.

    Read more about Politik och romantik

  • Märta Hedlund (1913–1944): An Early Scholar in Swedish Ethnology

    2016. Pia Karlsson Minganti, Ingvar Svanberg. Svenska landsmål och svenskt folkliv 139, 119-136

    Article

    In the first half of the twentieth century, only a limited number of women were involved in Swedish ethnological research at an advanced academic level. One of them was Märta Hedlund (1913–1944), who was part of the academic circle around the prominent professor of regionalethnology, Sigurd Erixon, at the University College of Stockholm. Sadly, she died young, before she was able to complete her work. This article recalls Hedlund as a pioneer in the study of peasant trade and modes of enculturation within the rural families of such traders. We argue that Hedlund, with her orientation towards American social anthropology and economic history, managed to introduce topics and perspectives that would come into vogue only decades later. Furthermore, a rereading is offered of her scant biographical data and professional output through the lens of intersectional gender theory, to provide a complementary view of why, for so long, her work was forgotten.

    Read more about Märta Hedlund (1913–1944)

  • Youth, Religion and Participation: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

    2013. Mia Lövheim (et al.).

    Conference

    This roundtable session focus on religious and social change as well as democracy and political culture, startingfrom the role of youth in these processes. The role of religion in young people’s participation is a key theme inthe cross-disciplinary network “youth and religion” connected to the Impact program. Participation here includesboth citizens’ “vertical” capacities to make their voices heard and influence decision-makers in the political system(e.g. via elections or civic organizations and social movements) and their “horizontal” capacities to communicateand cooperate with other people (within society at large or certain associations/communities). The participants ofthe session will present influential theories and methodologies used to study participation among youth within theresearch disciplines they represent (i.e. sociology of religion; theology; ethnology; political science). This will befollowed by a joint discussion of how these theories and methodologies have approached religious involvement witha particular focus on youth’s participation in politics, civil society as well as social media and the internet. The aim ofthe session is to look for common themes and new issues that can guide contemporary studies of participation in thefield of youth and religion. The session is open to conference participants interested in the issues discussed.

    Read more about Youth, Religion and Participation

  • Female Islamic Leadership in Sweden

    2013. Pia Karlsson Minganti. Open Democracy (31 January)

    Article

    In Sweden, women establish religious authority as they are appointed leaders in Muslim youth associations. Their commitment is intertwined with identity politics, leading their activism out beyond the mosques and classrooms and into civic centres and television studios.

    Read more about Female Islamic Leadership in Sweden

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