The broad studies on Islam politics have been giving much attention to male participation but less to women. Although Islamist women provide unceasing support to sustain political Islam, their active roles are often seen as complimentary. Some studies even say that these women lose their active agency and common sense, even though in the Ideological Muslimah community which I elaborate on in this research, women's involvement in Islamism cannot be considered trivial because they form a solid membership base. Through various political activism, The Ideological Muslimah community shows strong agentive behavior that originates from the habituation process they undertake. By looking at the emotional dimensions of the community, this research seeks to see how these dimensions shape the members’ identity, motivation, agency, strategy, and political trajectory. To explore those aspects, this research begins with three main questions: 1] why do women (the Ideological Muslimah members) join Islamism? 2] what does the movement mean for them? and 3] how do they live an Islamist life and engage in activism?
This research was conducted using in-depth interviews, participant observation and documentation of some of their online activities. By applying the theory of passionate politics initiated by James Jasper et al, as well as agency theory from Saba Mahmood and habitus from Pierre Bourdieu, this research portrays the narratives and experiences of the actors from their insider perspectives.
This research found that the emotional dimension greatly influences the involvement of the actors in the movement both at the stage of recruitment and action. Actors develop their personal and collective identities through the process of self-cultivation, that is inherently intertwined with emotional experiences, some of which are influenced by the community. Throughout the mentoring process, they acquire their passionate agency and manifest it in their passionate activism. Passionate agency refers to the capacity to act that arises because the individual
utilizes her emotional faculty in self-cultivation, ethical formulation, and action. Passionate agency manifests in three strategic agencies for activism, namely: adaptive, defensive and confrontative agency. Through this agency, actors can negotiate, withstand socio-political pressure, and confront values considered detrimental. This research discovers that the agency of the actors’ manifests in diverse expressions even in anomalies that challenge the idea of uniformity in the movement. While depersonalization does occur to a certain degree in the realm of political ideas and collective identity, it is not as readily apparent in the cultural and spiritual lives of the actors. This diversity illustrates the evolving political landscape
of Islam that grows in spectrum. By including narratives from the insiders’ perspective and discussing their emotion, agency, identity and politics, studies on Islamist women will achieve more inclusivity and justice.
Key words: Women, Passion, Islamism, Agency, Identity, Politics