Abstract:  The present article is about Niqabi women belonging to the private Telegram instant messaging channel Orgullo Niqabi (Spanish for ‘Niqabi Pride’). More specifically, our main objective is to explain what they are demanding, how they articulate their demands through that channel, and why they use it for communicating and to organize their actions. Said demands are mainly linked to their recognition as autonomous and political individuals within the different contexts in which they find themselves. First, our analysis will focus on categorizing their social and political demands for being recognized, not only as Muslims, but also as autonomous, independent, and political beings. Second, we intend to explain how those demands, expressed in the virtual world, are articulated in specific actions in the different societies and social contexts in which these women live. To this end, this article analyzes, following the procedures of the Grounded Theory, the discourses obtained through 27 in depth interviews conducted in the first half of the year 2019. The strength of this research lies in overcoming the difficult access to these women and their discourses as well as in clarifying who they are, what they are demanding from the societies in which they live, how and why they are virtually grouped and the consequences of their virtual grouping in the different societies in which each of them lives.

Keywords:  digital mobilization; fundamentalism; Niqabi pride; Niqabi women; political individuals; Telegram

Published:   20 August 2020

Issue:   Vol 8, No 3 (2020): Religious Minorities and Struggle for Recognition