According to Mahmood, the faithful subject is produced through the performance of pious behavior and ritual rather than such behavior and ritual symbolizing an inward state of faith. … Ritualized behavior constitutes the pious self. It does not symbolize it. This is part of Mahmood's modification of Judith Butler's notion of performativity, wherein resistance can be articulated by exaggerated or parodic performance of, for instance, gender norms. For Mahmood's mosque women, performance is not about subverting norms but about upholding them. Moreover, language-based approaches such as semiotics miss the point for Mahmood because performance is intrinsic to the creation of identity, not an expression of it.

DEFINE: Clarifies Mahmood's reworking of Butler's performativity: performance creates the subject rather than expressing a pre-existing inward state. Distinguishes faithful performance (upholding norms) from Butler's parodic subversion. XREF: Connects to Butler's gender performativity and to broader poststructuralist debates about identity construction versus expression in anthropology of religion.

Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, loc. 488