Postdoctoral researcher at the ISOR research group. PhD in Sociology with International Mention and Cum Laude Mention from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2022. She has been a visiting researcher at the University of Birmingham and her previous predoctoral training took place at the Pompeu Fabra University (Bachelor in Humanities), at Boston College (Bilateral Agreement during the degree), at the University of Barcelona (Master in Anthropology) and at the University of Manchester (MA Religion and Political Life).
Her research addresses the study of Islam, gender and political and social participation. She has also collaborated in several research projects on religious diversity and public expressions of religion, with a gender perspective. In 2022 she received funding from the University of Birmingham’s INSBS, for a project on the intersection between Islam, science and health.
This article examines how religious diversity is manifested and represented in contexts undergoin... more This article examines how religious diversity is manifested and represented in contexts undergoing intense urban pressures. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the Raval quarter of Barcelona, we analyse the open-air festivities of religious minorities and the emergence of new neighbourhood associations' mobilisations. Specifically, we focus on the role of food in these events as a way to explore how diversification and urban transformation interrelate. Whilst food becomes the means through which religious and secular actors interact and articulate forms of place-making, it also becomes a resource to present religion in forms deemed 'acceptable' to the general public.
This article focuses on analysing the biographical trajectories of young Muslim and Sikh activist... more This article focuses on analysing the biographical trajectories of young Muslim and Sikh activist women in Barcelona. Drawing on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations, we explore how these young women interpret, negotiate and perform their sense of belonging to religious minorities in a highly secularized context. The article makes three main arguments: first, we show how these women build their own understanding of religious orthodoxy. They develop a reflexive understanding of their faith, whilst also cultivating a specific emotional regime in which their choice is validated and authenticated by specific feelings. They claim not only to be Muslim or Sikh but also to feel as such. Second, we show how these women perform active boundary-work to demarcate religion from culture and ethnicity. It is this boundary-work that allows them to «purify» religion, whilst reinterpreting traditional gendered religious teachings. Third, the article shows how these women create spaces to foster their religious engagement and develop an intense social network. In many cases, networking occurs outside traditional religious centres, which are perceived as ambivalent at best.
Jewish-Muslim Relations: Historical and Contemporary Interactions and Exchanges, 2019
In March 2017 Salam Shalom Barcelona started as an initiative aimed at enhancing interreligious r... more In March 2017 Salam Shalom Barcelona started as an initiative aimed at enhancing interreligious relations and dialogue between Jews and Muslims living in the city. This initiative followed the steps of a former one that was established in Germany in 2013 called Salam Shalom. Despite Salam Shalom Barcelona’s short history, the promoted activities have shown that it can be a successful project with a high future potential. However, establishing interreligious dialogue is not an easy endeavor. It has to take into account different historical, political and social issues that impact the religious groups and communities. Therefore, this chapter aims to explain the Salam Shalom Barcelona initiative within the historical and social context of Spain, in order to enhance our understanding of its complexities and challenges. On the one hand, it presents a short introduction of the historiographical discussion regarding interreligious relations during the medieval period in Spain, considered b...
Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos REIM, 2021
La Ashura constituye una de las conmemoraciones más importantes del calendario musulmán chií. Sie... more La Ashura constituye una de las conmemoraciones más importantes del calendario musulmán chií. Siendo un día en el que se recuerda el sufrimiento del imán Hussein asesinado en 680 DC, la conmemoración incluye una procesión en la vía pública. Desde hace algunos años, no sólo tiene lugar en países como Irán o Pakistán, sino también en grandes ciudades europeas. Este artículo compara la conmemoración de la Ashura en Barcelona y París con el objetivo de analizar las diferentes lógicas que determinan su dimensión transnacional, así como el uso que las comunidades de la diáspora chií pueden hacer del espacio público.
Resumen: Mientras en la sociedad se generaliza la difusión de imágenes y representaciones de muje... more Resumen: Mientras en la sociedad se generaliza la difusión de imágenes y representaciones de mujeres musulmanas como víctimas pasivas de supuestas estructuras tradicionales y normas religiosas desiguales, los estudios etnográficos se aproximan destacando su diversidad y agencias. Esta comunicación pretende visibilizar las múltiples formas de respuesta que emergen ante la homogeneización presente en la percepción social de lo que se identifica como mujeres musulmanas. Para ello, se presenta el caso concreto de mujeres que tienen una participación política y social activa en plataformas, asociaciones e incluso entidades políticas. A través de su participación se hace visible un tipo de agencia que generalmente está oculta bajo las representaciones e imágenes estereotipadas de las mujeres y que además en ocasiones puede emerger como reacción a dicha(s) representación(es). Así, estas formas de participación pueden surgir como resistencia a la esencialización y culturalización de la pertinencia religiosa que convierte a las mujeres identificadas como musulmanas en claros sujetos políticos. De esta manera, este caso de estudio con base etnográfica incluye reflexiones desde una perspectiva de género sobre cómo la islamofobia o racismo anti-musulmán es vivido dentro de la comunidad musulmana y a la vez resignificado en un tipo de activismo que confirma la existencia de agencias y resistencias por parte de mujeres que se autoidentifican y son identificadas como musulmanas. El análisis de este tipo de agencia incluye además el estudio de las conexiones transnacionales, así como el de los nuevos espacios virtuales, considerados como herramientas que pueden facilitar y hacer visible dicha participación.
In diasporic contexts, religious representatives play a key role as cultural ambassadors for thei... more In diasporic contexts, religious representatives play a key role as cultural ambassadors for their respective communities and religions. This article examines religious representation as a form of civic engagement among Shia Muslims who have assumed representational responsibilities in Barcelona. Our study focuses on their interactions with municipal authorities and the wider public amid the planning, organization, and enactment of public lamentation processions. We show how public rituals provide representatives of Barcelona’s main Shia community with a platform for ‘performative citizenship’ practices like claiming rights and demonstrating their deservingness of inclusion in the neighborhood, city, and nation. Yet, different representatives have engaged in distinct styles of representation and performative citizenship. In explaining these differences, we draw attention to how their respective migration trajectories, historical experiences, and sociostructural location have contributed to certain pressures, forms of positional awareness, and practical dispositions that account for their inclinations toward different approaches to civic engagement.
This article examines how religious diversity is manifested and represented in contexts undergoin... more This article examines how religious diversity is manifested and represented in contexts undergoing intense urban pressures. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the Raval quarter of Barcelona, we analyse the open-air festivities of religious minorities and the emergence of new neighbourhood associations' mobilisations. Specifically, we focus on the role of food in these events as a way to explore how diversification and urban transformation interrelate. Whilst food becomes the means through which religious and secular actors interact and articulate forms of place-making, it also becomes a resource to present religion in forms deemed 'acceptable' to the general public.
This article focuses on analysing the biographical trajectories of young Muslim and Sikh activist... more This article focuses on analysing the biographical trajectories of young Muslim and Sikh activist women in Barcelona. Drawing on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations, we explore how these young women interpret, negotiate and perform their sense of belonging to religious minorities in a highly secularized context. The article makes three main arguments: first, we show how these women build their own understanding of religious orthodoxy. They develop a reflexive understanding of their faith, whilst also cultivating a specific emotional regime in which their choice is validated and authenticated by specific feelings. They claim not only to be Muslim or Sikh but also to feel as such. Second, we show how these women perform active boundary-work to demarcate religion from culture and ethnicity. It is this boundary-work that allows them to «purify» religion, whilst reinterpreting traditional gendered religious teachings. Third, the article shows how these women create spaces to foster their religious engagement and develop an intense social network. In many cases, networking occurs outside traditional religious centres, which are perceived as ambivalent at best.
Jewish-Muslim Relations: Historical and Contemporary Interactions and Exchanges, 2019
In March 2017 Salam Shalom Barcelona started as an initiative aimed at enhancing interreligious r... more In March 2017 Salam Shalom Barcelona started as an initiative aimed at enhancing interreligious relations and dialogue between Jews and Muslims living in the city. This initiative followed the steps of a former one that was established in Germany in 2013 called Salam Shalom. Despite Salam Shalom Barcelona’s short history, the promoted activities have shown that it can be a successful project with a high future potential. However, establishing interreligious dialogue is not an easy endeavor. It has to take into account different historical, political and social issues that impact the religious groups and communities. Therefore, this chapter aims to explain the Salam Shalom Barcelona initiative within the historical and social context of Spain, in order to enhance our understanding of its complexities and challenges. On the one hand, it presents a short introduction of the historiographical discussion regarding interreligious relations during the medieval period in Spain, considered b...
Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos REIM, 2021
La Ashura constituye una de las conmemoraciones más importantes del calendario musulmán chií. Sie... more La Ashura constituye una de las conmemoraciones más importantes del calendario musulmán chií. Siendo un día en el que se recuerda el sufrimiento del imán Hussein asesinado en 680 DC, la conmemoración incluye una procesión en la vía pública. Desde hace algunos años, no sólo tiene lugar en países como Irán o Pakistán, sino también en grandes ciudades europeas. Este artículo compara la conmemoración de la Ashura en Barcelona y París con el objetivo de analizar las diferentes lógicas que determinan su dimensión transnacional, así como el uso que las comunidades de la diáspora chií pueden hacer del espacio público.
Resumen: Mientras en la sociedad se generaliza la difusión de imágenes y representaciones de muje... more Resumen: Mientras en la sociedad se generaliza la difusión de imágenes y representaciones de mujeres musulmanas como víctimas pasivas de supuestas estructuras tradicionales y normas religiosas desiguales, los estudios etnográficos se aproximan destacando su diversidad y agencias. Esta comunicación pretende visibilizar las múltiples formas de respuesta que emergen ante la homogeneización presente en la percepción social de lo que se identifica como mujeres musulmanas. Para ello, se presenta el caso concreto de mujeres que tienen una participación política y social activa en plataformas, asociaciones e incluso entidades políticas. A través de su participación se hace visible un tipo de agencia que generalmente está oculta bajo las representaciones e imágenes estereotipadas de las mujeres y que además en ocasiones puede emerger como reacción a dicha(s) representación(es). Así, estas formas de participación pueden surgir como resistencia a la esencialización y culturalización de la pertinencia religiosa que convierte a las mujeres identificadas como musulmanas en claros sujetos políticos. De esta manera, este caso de estudio con base etnográfica incluye reflexiones desde una perspectiva de género sobre cómo la islamofobia o racismo anti-musulmán es vivido dentro de la comunidad musulmana y a la vez resignificado en un tipo de activismo que confirma la existencia de agencias y resistencias por parte de mujeres que se autoidentifican y son identificadas como musulmanas. El análisis de este tipo de agencia incluye además el estudio de las conexiones transnacionales, así como el de los nuevos espacios virtuales, considerados como herramientas que pueden facilitar y hacer visible dicha participación.
In diasporic contexts, religious representatives play a key role as cultural ambassadors for thei... more In diasporic contexts, religious representatives play a key role as cultural ambassadors for their respective communities and religions. This article examines religious representation as a form of civic engagement among Shia Muslims who have assumed representational responsibilities in Barcelona. Our study focuses on their interactions with municipal authorities and the wider public amid the planning, organization, and enactment of public lamentation processions. We show how public rituals provide representatives of Barcelona’s main Shia community with a platform for ‘performative citizenship’ practices like claiming rights and demonstrating their deservingness of inclusion in the neighborhood, city, and nation. Yet, different representatives have engaged in distinct styles of representation and performative citizenship. In explaining these differences, we draw attention to how their respective migration trajectories, historical experiences, and sociostructural location have contributed to certain pressures, forms of positional awareness, and practical dispositions that account for their inclinations toward different approaches to civic engagement.
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