Paper short abstract:

This paper considers exemplary acts of refusal by Muslim women in rural Oman at the intersection of three different regimes of authority: the Omani state, tribal social networks, and the Divine. I argue that their refusal is an attempt to make a third space to develop their relationship with God.

Paper long abstract:

This paper locates the cultivation of boredom as an exemplary act of refusal at the intersection of three different regimes of authority. Drawing on my two years of fieldwork with Muslim speakers of the endangered Śẖerēt language in the Dhofar highlands of Oman, I explore the tendency of women (particularly mature yet unmarried women) to spend large swaths of daylight in withdrawal from familial and interactional responsibilities, most likely through sleeping or pretending to sleep. Though they complain at times about the bored stupor that their schedule produces, and often attract the ire of their family members, they do not act to rearrange their sleeping hours. I argue that the disjuncture between their schedule and activity and that of the rest of the family is not lethargy but instead is a method of making space outside the exposure to hospitality obligations and the gaze of (male) guests that constitutes an Islamic practice. Where this obligation to interact with others supports persistent forms of tribal authority that exist in contestation with Omani Sultanic soveriegnty, it is the tools of dispossession that the state deploys against these tribal networks -- infrastructures for electricity and transit as well as economic and educational developments that change the rhythm of the day -- that enable the women's refusal. However, I argue that their bored withdrawal does not index state authority, but instead is an attempt to carve out a third space within which they can develop their own ethical relationship with God.