Interview with Juliane Hammer on “Peaceful Families: Muslim American Efforts Against Domestic Violence”

I’m now a host on the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. My debut interview was with someone I greatly respect and whose scholarship has had a profound influence on me – Dr. Juliane Hammer.

I read Hammer’s latest book Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence (University of Princeton, 2019) and then interviewed her for the podcast. Here’s a brief intro to the book and the interview followed by a link to the interview.

More coming up.

How do Muslim Americans respond to domestic violence? What motivates Muslim individuals and organizations to work towards eradicating domestic violence in their communities? Where do Muslim providers, survivors, victims, and organizations fit into the broader, mainstream anti-domestic violence movement? How do Muslims negotiate with religious tradition in their work against domestic violence to arrive at an ethic of non-abuse?

Juliane Hammer answers these and many other questions in her new brilliant, engaging, and clear new book Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence (Princeton University Press, 2019). The book provides an excellent overview of the ways that Muslim Americans address domestic violence in their communities. Through rich, detailed ethnographic interviews with Muslim advocates, service providers, imams and other religious leaders, and organizations, Hammer explores the stories, struggles, and anxieties of Muslims as they face the intersections of a range of issues, including anti-Muslim hostility and patriarchy. Peaceful Families will be of interest to anyone interested in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Islam in America, the relationship between Islam and gender, and anyone generally interested in working against domestic violence.

In our conversation, we discuss some of the main points of the book and the themes that shape her arguments, including the broader Muslim anti-domestic violence movement—and whether it can be identified as a movement—the relationship between gender, patriarchy, and domestic violence; the impact of Islamophobia on survivors and victims of domestic violence; the ethic of non-abuse that is central to advocates’ work against domestic violence; and the relationship between academic policing and activist scholarship.

You can listen to the interview on any podcast app or on the New Books Network website here.