“Speaking Out Would Be a Step Beyond Just Not Believing”—On the Performativity of Testimony When Moving Out of Islam

Abstract

This article investigates the narratives of people moving out of Islam in contemporary Europe. In particular, it focusses on the potential performance of non-belief in the form of speech. By critically examining the function of testimony in conversion and deconversion narratives, this article problematises the assumed boundaries of belief, non-belief, and the function of the performance of identity. It does so by investigating contemplations over private and public performances, since the performance of speech was thought to have different effects in both spheres. Whilst public discourses on leaving Islam and speaking freely were always weighed, in private these were related to familial bonds, love, and belonging. On the other hand, considering speaking out in public was often contextualised with reference to potential secularist appropriation of their stories as ‘native testimonial’. As such, my interlocutors show that testifying of one’s religious transformation in the case of moving out of Islam was neither central nor conditional. Speech was mostly considered a ‘step beyond’ not believing.

“I Have Apostatized”: Self-Narratives of Catholic Apostasy as Resources for Collective Mobilization in Argentina

“…However, as Bromley (1998) pointed out, it must be considered a differential and disruptive personal act that is strongly contested, which occurs when the religious movement is visibly in tension with its social environment and is not just a mere religious disidentification. Apostasy has aroused increasing interest in those who study both exit processes and theological criticism among Muslims (Enstedt and Larsson 2013;Vliek 2019), because in many Islamic countries, apostasy is a crime that carries severe penalties. Some scholars have analyzed the self-narratives of apostates who have abandoned Bahá'i Faith, LDS Church, Soka Gakkai Buddhism, Jehovah's Witness, or other evangelical movements (Mannon 2019;Momen 2007;Pannofino and Cardano 2017), noting that they tend to adopt a strongly adversarial public position towards the abandoned religion, as was previously identified by Bromley (1998).…”