My Research Interests

     So far, many Muslim traditions and values have sparked my interest in reading Home Fire. Although I have some background knowledge on these topics, I do not consider myself an expert, and reading this novel has me questioning my own understanding of Muslim culture. The first subject I have an interest in is learning the typical relationship dynamic between men and women in Muslim culture. Although it is now the 21st century and times have changed, I find learning about the dynamic in Muslim couples intriguing. For example, in Mexican culture, back in the day the traditional idea was that the men work all day to financially support the families and the mother has a responsibility of taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning, and eventually having more children. What struck me was when Eamonn was almost waiting around for Aneeka to show up which goes against many power dynamics in relationships. In “traditional” relationships, usually the men would make the women wait around, but I find the relationship between Aneeka and Eamonn in the beginning very interesting. Another topic I would like to dive into more would be the rules of Hijab wearing. When I first read that Aneeka was taking her hijab off, I thought it was a mistake, but as the paragraph continued, I realized that she meant to take it off. From my knowledge, I knew men couldn’t see a woman’s hair until a specific point in the relationship to maintain modesty and moral values. I questioned my understanding of Muslim culture which is why I find this topic so interesting. This event with Aneeka and Eamonn made me realize that I do not fully understand the rules with women wearing Hijabs in Muslim Culture. Both of these topics greatly spark my interest, and I am very excited to work on my research excursion with one of these topics. 



Comments

  1. Max WhiteOctober 2, 2021 at 7:09 PM

    Those sound like great topics to research and discuss. The topic of the role of men and women in Islamic culture may be hard to find concrete evidence for. However, you may even be able to find descriptions of the roles in Islam's holy book: The Quran.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Abby MatsonOctober 3, 2021 at 11:22 PM

    I was looking at researching the veil laws in Islam and Islamic countries-- I also noticed the power dynamic between Aneeka and Eamonn, but I definitely thought of it as uncharacteristic for the typical male/female relationship depicted in fiction. It was somewhat refreshing to read something new, and I was interested in the combination of resentment/worship Eamonn felt towards Aneeka because of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 4, 2021 at 11:59 AM

    Yeah I agree with Max that there are probably explicit roles for men and women in the Quran and that they are other great resources detailing the rules of the Quran and how they affect western cultures.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Caroline's C&I BlogOctober 5, 2021 at 1:18 PM

    As we've seen there's a lot of conflict in this novel and as a reader, there's a clash between my previous thoughts of Muslim culture and what is reality. So I as well have become more interested in the dynamics between males and females within Islam.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Isabella FernandezOctober 5, 2021 at 8:34 PM

    Hi Bianca! I also was fascinated by Aneeka and Eamonn's relationship because in most book couples will be depicted in the "traditional" manner that you mentioned in your post. I think another topic that could go really well with your research interests would be Muslim Feminism because this concept is very evident between Aneeka and Eamonn.

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