Reflections after the "Care and the Jewish Experience" Conference - Nasreen Javanjoo shares her insights
The "Care and the Jewish Experience" Conference, organized by the Leiden Jewish Studies Network, hosted many talented young researchers alongside established scholars of different fields. Our guests got a chance to listen to a great presentation titled “Women of Valor: Tradwives and the Sacralization of Domestic Care Work” by Nasreen Javanjoo.
Nasreen is a recent graduate of the MA Religious Studies at Leiden University. She wrote her MA thesis, titled Baking Cakes in the Name of God: Tradwives and the Construction of Christian Tradition Online, about the way in which tradwives construct and express a perceived traditional Christian identity and lifestyle on social media. Her broader research interests lie at the intersection of feminist studies, critical gender studies, and religious studies. After the conference, she kindly shared insights about the experience of presenting her research.
What did you present on at the "Care and the Jewish Experience" Conference?
During my talk, titled Women of Valor: Tradwives and the Sacralization of Domestic Care Work, I discussed the way in which tradwives use specific passages from the Hebrew Bible to give a sacred meaning to the care work that they perform online. Tradwives (i.e. women who create online content about wanting to return to perceived traditional gender roles) use their online platforms to share photos and videos of themselves performing various kinds of domestic care tasks: from baking sourdough bread and cleaning their kitchens to homeschooling their children.
I specifically looked at the way in which tradwives sacralize these domestic care practices online. Many tradwives view their roles as wives, mothers and homemakers as roles given to them by God and argue that specific passages from the Hebrew Bible outline the way in which a perceived “traditional” Christian woman should behave. Adhering to complementarian and literal readings of Genesis 2:20-24 and Proverbs 31:10-31, a passage also known as The Wife of Noble Character, tradwives claim that being a wife, mother and homemaker is the only way to fulfill their perceived natural and traditional roles. By biblically substantiating the care work that they perform online, tradwives give a new, sacred meaning to the care that they perform for their husbands, children, and households. To them, performing domestic care is not just a practical choice. Instead, it is informed by specific perceptions of ancient religious lives and specific interpretations of ancient religious texts, turning it into a deeply religious practice.
While many of us might find the content that tradwives post to be strange or humorous, I argue that we should take seriously the way in which they construct and preach specific ideas about perceived traditional Christian womanhood. Looking through the lens of “care”, it becomes clear that a core component of their idealized version of Christian womanhood is the performance of care for the husband, children, and the home as a God-given and biblically substantiated ministry.
How did you experience the overall conference?
It was wonderful to connect with people from so many different disciplines and different parts of the world. I learned a lot from my fellow panelists and from the other wonderful speakers who contributed to the programme. The many different contributions helped me adjust and expand my own understanding of what it means to care. One of my fellow panelists gave a very insightful talk about the way she cares for Jewish heritage at the Anne Frank House, which expanded my own understanding of care from a primarily emotional and spiritual practice to a material one.
Additionally, it was very nice to exchange knowledge with a diverse group of people whose research and own lived experiences all share a common denominator. Coming together in this way really made me feel like I was part of a community for a day. This was not only evident from the formal talks, but also from the informal and friendly conversations we shared during lunch and dinner. As a recently graduated student who is standing at the beginning of her (academic) career, this conference was a very pleasant introduction to this side of academia.
I also want to say a special thanks to everyone who made this day possible. From everyone at the Leiden Jewish Studies Network, the LIAS and the Austria Centre Leiden to Sarah Cramsey, Sophia Pekowsky and Borka Balogh from the CARECENTURY project. And, of course, all the amazing support staff at the Hortus and at Leiden University who took very good care of all the speakers and guests.
How is "care" a useful prism to think about the past and our present?
Speaking from my own work and research, using “care” as a lens to study people in both past and present is useful because it forces us to acknowledge people and labour that have often been invisible or ignored. Care labour, whether emotional or physical, sustains human relationships and our society on all different levels. From the most intimate domestic connections (how does a mother care for her children?) to broader (inter)national ones (how does a state care for its citizens?). Looking at the world through the lens of “care” therefore acknowledges this labour and the (often marginalised) people who have historically performed it.
Additionally, looking at how people care and why they perform care reveals to us how they give meaning to their relationships and the world around them. For example, critically analysing the domestic care work that tradwives perform online shows us that this work is not merely a practical choice, but a deeply religious practice. It shows us how they interpret ancient religious texts and it reveals to us how they construct and interpret their own faith. When you conduct research from this perspective, you discover and reveal processes of meaning-making at the core of human relationships and connections. This is not only something that tradwives do or that people from our past have done but is something that exists throughout human existence.