Cultural familiarity and novelty in female muslim tourism

This constructivist grounded theory study drew out interpretivist understandings of Fijian female Muslims’ perceptions of international Muslim environments, including their counterparts. Underpinned by intersectionality theory, it examined simultaneous influences of gender and religion in impacting tourism of female Muslims, that is, amplifications of both identities on each other. The current study interviewed 27 female Muslims of distinctive backgrounds (e.g. socio-demographic, religiosity). It drew out insights that were not essentialised to female and Muslim perspectives but subjective to female Muslims. In addition, this study highlighted similarities and differences, in terms of cultural familiarity and novelty, within female Muslims internationally, thus the intersectional theoretical underpinning probed into intra-group experiences. Related themes centered on themes were developed: “Cultural Familiarity”, “Cultural Novelty”, “International Female Muslim Interactions” and “Self and Social Transformations”. The current study was situated in the Fijian Muslim community, a Muslim-minority and non-western context in the Oceania-Pacific region.