Islam and Gender on Campus

Abstract

Discussions about Islam and gender on campus have generally focused on Muslim women’s dress and status in Islam. However, the processes that make Muslim women’s dress on campus so salient have received little attention. This chapter explores gender and Islam on campus, contextualizing it within the politics of dress, with a particular focus on Muslim women’s negotiations of how to dress. We argue that gendered stereotypes about the headscarf or niqab contribute to the construction of Muslim women as extremists or oppressed. We show that Muslims sometimes faced scrutiny or hostility from students and lecturers who read particular dress choices as symbolic threats. Taking an intersectional perspective, the chapter illuminates how some Muslims modify their dress in different contexts to increase a sense of belonging or reduce stigma. We also explore how some Muslims challenge misconceptions about Islam and gender.

Institutionalised Islamophobia Before Prevent

“…Bauman et al highlight institutional complicity through a more holistic lens, unpacking the troubled status of Muslims/Islam in the post-colonial neoliberal university. 52 Whilst these aforementioned contributions are cognizant of governmental-institutional confluence, what is less apparent is that the 'prime suspect' central to the 'Duty' also has a distinctly visible trajectory within HE marked by a transgressive Muslim hyper-visibility 53 that is, ubiquitously registered as 'fundamentalistcum-extremist. '…”

“…69 This example explicates what is often left absent or paled from view. Whilst these remain vital critiques of Prevent, particularly in view of its reported detrimental impact, 70 the state arguably becomes overstated in highlighting the racialization of Muslims in universities.…”

“…86 This particular cultural configuration has shown little evidence of eroding. 87 Rather, in the prevailing CT context, Muslim students do not just figure as a threat and 'problem to be managed' but within the racialized neoliberal campus, as resource and fantasy to be regulated, 88 exposing the limits of the liberal academy. 89…”

“…Hence, a critical reappraisal may well ask where the sites of convergence and complicity reside. For whilst it has been observed that Prevent has merged into the sector with considerable ease, although not homogenously 244 and subsumed into a neoliberal culture of risk aversion and uncertainty, 245 it should also be clear that Prevent has (e)merged into an existing regime of racialized 'post'-disciplinary power. This is where the subsumption of Prevent racialized logics within White 'post'-disciplinary institutions warrant greater attention.…”