Islam, Youth and Gender in India and Pakistan: Current Research Perspectives

Abstract

Should women’s rights and gender justice be defined and guaranteed within an exclusively religious or secular framework? Is it at all possible to create the basis for a dialogue about the different normative positions that are held? These are questions that are the focus of current debates in South Asia. In view of the demographic development and profound transformation of India’s and Pakistan’s societies since the 1980s, which also includes the religiously defined minority and majority communities, it now seems a necessity to focus more strongly on the younger generation of Muslim men and women in both countries. For this special issue of our journal, we chose to bring together and showcase an appropriate selection of articles written by young researchers who are based in India, Pakistan, Germany and the United States. All of them engage in and contribute to the ongoing discussion about theoretical and methodological approaches to this research area, to the formulation of new research perspectives and to various other questions that need to be addressed as well within the scope of research related to Islam and South Asia.