“What will people say?” – Practices of gendered lateral surveillance in the familial context of women of the Moroccan diaspora in Italy and the Netherlands

Many Moroccan women of the diaspora experience forms of family surveillance; family members keep track of their activities and associations. This study aims to analyze the intersection between gender and surveillance in an intimate context where cultural precepts and Islam play a central role. To do so, this thesis employs Constructivist Grounded Theory analysis of interviews with Moroccan women of the diaspora to shed light on an existing phenomenon and expand on its contextual nuances rather than creating a new framework. The researcher being a Moroccan woman of the diaspora herself allowed her to establish an unparalleled level of trust and honesty with the interviewees about their shared experiences. While the opportunity to intimately engage with the respondents’ experiences was worthwhile, ethical challenges arose around navigating personal trauma as well as the respondents’ concern of their families discovering their strategies to resist family surveillance. To navigate these implications, common strategies such pseudonymization were used. Despite contextual distinctions and different family compositions, preliminary findings delineate a certain universality of experiences. All participants acknowledged their gender to be an essential parameter in the monitoring they were subjected to by their families; monitoring was accompanied by specific expectations and rules that were often implicit or difficult to negotiate -- such as those concerning their bodies, their sexuality, freedom of movement, and external perception. Participants who indicated receiving a Moroccan-culture-centered parenting tend to develop ‘double lives’ in order to circumvent said monitoring and internalize self-surveillance practices to avoid conflict and emotional disappointment. Those who instead received Islamic parenting have noticed lesser scrutiny and greater opportunities for communication and discussion of dynamics of surveillance. All participants identified love and care as the driving sentiment behind the monitoring; similarly, they acknowledged the struggle of the diasporic experience and the challenges of reconciling cultures with somehow clashing values. Ultimately, most participants confirm that they comply with cultural and religious rules to show respect to their families although they may not agree with them. This study introduces a perspective of family surveillance in the context of the Moroccan diaspora in Europe, a topic mostly studied in the context of Western realities. The research offers novel insights into how young women experience interculturality and religious culture while negotiating online and offline monitoring in transnational family life.