University News Last updated 19 March 2019
New research is set to challenge Islamophobic perceptions of British Muslim women as being 'oppressed' and 'dangerous'.
Birmingham City University sociologist Dr Nazia Hussein hopes to challenge how Muslim women as a social category are imagined in popular culture and policy and is currently conducting interviews with Muslim women who actively participate in political or social activism in their communities.
“In the wake of riots and terror attacks, Britain has experienced an intense political, media and policy scrutiny of British Muslims,” said Dr Hussein, who teaches at Birmingham City University’s School of Social Sciences.
The research aims to understand the ways in which highly educated, professional British Muslim women negotiate their intersectional identities and participate in political activism, yet remain invisible in media and political representations in the UK and the West in general.
“As well as challenging the perceptions of being oppressed and dangerous, I want to argue for renewed assessments of Muslim women in Britain today who choose to act on their political views in public spaces”, added Dr Hussein.