VIGNATO S (2012). “Men come in, men go out” : single Muslim women in Malaysia and Aceh. SOCIAL IDENTITIES, vol. 18, ISSN: 1350-4630

Malay and Acehnese single women live their lives within an Islamic religious and political frame in different ways. Aceh and Malay societies share a similar tradition. Cognatic kinship and a varying focus on matrilocality and matriliny concern them both, as well as an old Islamic tradition. As other researchers have shown, for both the Malays and the Acehnese, ‘sexual desire’ or ‘passion’ and its control are a central theme in discourses on human beings and gender. Through the marginal stories of some Malay and Acehnese single women, this article examines two types of Muslim marriage, kahwin misyar and nikah siri, in relation to the basic notions of passion and control. It points to some women’s forms of resistant behaviour and personal agency within the internationalization and standardization of Islam.