Affiliation:
1. Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
Abstract
In this paper, two authors seize space as Muslim women feminist social work educators and researchers. We challenge and hopefully silence homogenizing, essentialist and Islamophobic constructions. The first author is a hijabi, Indo-Caribbean, able-bodied cis-heterosexual Muslim feminist; the second author is a disabled, queer Muslim of South Asian heritage. We identify as racialized and firmly rooted in intersectional critical feminist perspectives. Using an autoethnographic, conversation-based approach, we share our narratives (lived experiences) in social work academe. Navigating feminisms, Muslimness, strategic essentialism and Islamophobia while engaging in a critical praxis, we attempt to bring together contradictory discourses for critical examination. We engage with the following questions: How do Muslim women fit (or not fit!) in social work academe? How do Muslim women fit (or not fit!) in critical social work feminist spheres? And what do Muslim feminist futures look like in social work academe? Our lived experiences as racialized Muslim feminists are standpoint perspectives which offer situated knowledges that disempower dominant social work discourses. Social work can no longer be reactionary and preserve the status quo; it must move forward with foresight and be an active player in dismantling inequities.
Subject
Social Sciences (miscellaneous),Gender Studies
Reference74 articles.
1. Indigegogy
2. Muslim Women’s Experiences of Higher Education in Britain
3. ORIENTATIONS: Toward a Queer Phenomenology
4. Anderssen E. (2022, June 6). Quebec teacher removed from classroom over Bill 21 says taking off hijab to keep her job would send wrong message to students. Globe & Mail Newspaper online. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-quebec-bill-21-hijab-fatemeh-anvari/
5. The Eclipse of the Patriarchal Family in Contemporary Islamic Law