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Gendered Accounts of Expertise Within Islamic Finance and Financialization in Malaysia

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Sharia Dynamics

Part of the book series: Contemporary Anthropology of Religion ((CAR))

Abstract

Examining the dynamic interplay of gender, Islam, and financial power, this chapter examines the work of ethnic Malay women working in the Islamic financial services industry in Malaysia. As they seek to constitute their sharia expertise as mobile and valuable, these women are refashioning a version of gender complementarity that recognizes and values women’s essential difference on the market. But due to a dearth of networking between elite sharia experts and other women’s networks, the potential of their work to alter social relationships and larger configurations of power remains unrealized. In Malaysia, women’s newly valorized sharia expertise is thus constricted even as a new generation of elite women are achieving considerable gains in power and prestige.

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  1. Department of Global Studies, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Laura Elder

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA

    Timothy P. Daniels

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Elder, L. (2017). Gendered Accounts of Expertise Within Islamic Finance and Financialization in Malaysia. In: Daniels, T. (eds) Sharia Dynamics. Contemporary Anthropology of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45692-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45692-8_7

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