Juliane Hammer, ‘Domestic Violence, Islam and Feminism: A Difficult Conversation’

Juliane Hammer will speak on her newest book Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts Against Domestic Violence. Through interviews with Muslim advocates, service providers and religious leaders, she details the different strategies that Muslim American organizations use to address domestic violence within their communities, and the effects that Islamophobia have on this important work. Dr. Hammer contends that in some instances, in order to create immediate concrete change, service providers choose to endorse protective forms of patriarchy, even though they hold feminist views that are critical of patriarchal assumptions. Dr. Hammer links Muslim advocacy efforts to the larger domestic violence crisis in the United States, and shows how, through extensive family and community networks, advocates participate in and further debates about family, gender and marriage in global Muslim communities. Lastly, this book provides critical tools for ethnographers working with vulnerable communities on sensitive subjects.