Upsetting ‘Others’ in the Netherlands: Narratives of Muslim Turkish Migrant Businesswomen at the Crossroads of Ethnicity,Gender and Religion

In this paper we use insights from postcolonial feminism to explore the identity narratives of three Muslim businesswomen of Turkish descent in the Netherlands. We identify some of the ways in which contemporary political discourse in the Netherlands constructs Muslim ‘Others’ and discuss how this discursive positioning impacts on the multiple identities these women create for themselves in response. Postcolonial feminism challenges the discursive and material relations of both patriarchy and Eurocentric feminisms, which work together to obscure the rich diversity of women's lived experiences, their agency and identities. By exploring how Othering impacts on these women's multiple identities, we aim to enrich understandings of women's migrant entrepreneurship. These identity narratives, shared by women who each describe quite different ways of experiencing, interpreting and responding to marginalization, shed light on the West's relationship to the Other and reveal some of the underlying relations of power that shape identity.