6 research outputs found
Resisting Epistemic Racism in UK Academia? Challenges, and Risks in the Age of Islamophobia:The Voices of Muslim Academics
Experiences of Muslim academics in UK Higher Education Institutions
The intertwining of political, economic, societal and global changes has resulted in
accentuating even more so the ‘Muslim question’, both domestically and globally.
Research has shown that the negative focus Muslims and Islam receive in the West is
becoming increasingly mainstreamed, not only through the media, but principally
through mainstream political discourse. This mainstreaming is within a global and
local narrative of a ‘war on terror’. The former followed 9/11 at the outset of this
millennium and the latter is represented in the myriad of ‘anti-terrorism’ initiatives
recently augmented in the UK by the Prevent duty. This intensely hostile backdrop
has nurtured ‘normative truths’ about Muslims / Islam. Although Islamophobia did
exist long before 9/11, it has now become commonplace and, even, legitimised
within the context of tackling terrorism, affecting the experiences of the majority of
Muslims in the West and elsewhere in diverse ways.
British academia has opened its doors to non-traditional academics, including those
from racial and/or ethnic minority backgrounds. Equality policies have been
developed, particularly subsequent to the Race Relation Amendment (2000), which
has sought to fulfil the recommendations of the Macpherson report (1999).
Nevertheless, inequalities do permeate British academia and the experiences of non-traditional
academics have been tainted by institutional racism, in both quantity and
quality. Statistics attest the former, highlighting the underrepresentation of non-traditional
academics in British academia, more particularly in senior leadership and
professorial positions. Empirical research findings attest the latter through citing
several factors, including career trajectory barriers and the double standards racial
bias that operates in a subtle way within higher education institutions (HEIs).
These broader and institutional dimensions set the scene for this thesis, the aim of
which is to examine the experiences of Muslim academics. The particular
experiences of this group of academics have been ignored in previous research, as
faith/belief matters have largely been overlooked in studies that explored the
experiences of minority academics.
This thesis adopts a qualitative approach utilising theoretical bricolage that
principally draws on Critical Race Theory (CRT). The notion of race in CRT is,
however, expanded to include faith/belief. The thesis also draws on Post-colonial and
De-colonial theories, Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’ and Fraser’s model of ‘status
recognition’. It explores the perceptions of Muslim academic participants regarding
their own personal/professional identities and how Muslim academics negotiate their
Muslim-ness in academia and considers how wider narratives have influenced how
they speak about their ‘Muslim identity’. The views of the participants are
particularly important to examine the extent to which, if any, the ‘normative truths’
have penetrated academia. This thesis also examines the perceptions of the
participants regarding their career experiences and considers whether the experiences
of this group of Muslim academics corresponds to, or differs from, the experiences of
their fellow non-traditional academics.
The Whiteness of the academy was an overarching theme, under which the
participants’ experiences of racism vis-a-vis job opportunities, career advancement
and the multi-faced forms of epistemic racism were discussed. Exceptionalism
seemed to be a pre-requisite of gaining a positive experience. Not only did
exceptionalism temper perceptions of ‘otherness’, but being exceptional was an
aspect that advanced the career trajectories of some of the participants. Silence was
another major theme that recurred in various forms across the fieldwork. These
silences appear to have been a consequence of the wider stigmatisation of the
Muslim identity, which became evident in the ways some of the participants chose to
go about interpreting, or declaring, their Muslim-ness in their workplace. While
being Muslim created challenges and required some of the participants to exert
substantive negotiations and efforts to fit in, it was advantageous for others, in terms
of their career trajectories. Religious micro-aggressions were habitual to the
participants with regards to their interactions with staff, and this was particularly
acute for females wearing the hijab, where the religious micro-aggressions in HEIs
took on a gendered aspect of the ‘Muslim problem’. Silence also penetrated the
narratives in relation to issues of institutional racism. Networking with other non-white
academics was another main theme that featured in the accounts. Muslim
academic participants, like other non-traditional academics seek support and
mentorship from other minoritised academics to be able to survive in academia.
The current study concludes by suggesting that there is a need for more consideration
to be given to the aspects of faith/belief in HE policy and practice. This needs to be
conducted within a framework that acknowledges the existence of religious
microaggressions and the overwhelming normativism of Whiteness in academia