Muslim Women Academics in Higher Education: Reflections from South Africa

Daniels, Doria; Dasoo, Nazreen

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4219-2_13

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The answer to the question of ‘does she belong’ is often ‘I don’t think so’. Like many female Muslim academics wearing hijab (Daniels and Dasoo 2012; Hatem Almakri et al, 2016), I am used to often being the only visible Muslim in the room. Like many of us, I have had people at university mistake me for a student, a visitor, non-academic staff – but not an academic.…”

Section: Jennifer: Researching Gender and Civil War In Lebanonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

Rumsby

Eggert

2023

Qualitative Research

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This article contributes to the growing literature on researcher reflexivity by broaching the often-ignored issue of religious positionalities within political science, as well as speaking to the methodological implications of researching religion more broadly. We present and compare two autoethnographic case studies of research on politico-religious conflict in Vietnam and Lebanon, exploring how a researcher’s religiosity presents unique fieldwork challenges, opportunities and insights. We then discuss the ambivalence faced by religious researchers within the highly secularised academic environment, thus blurring the artificial dichotomy between ‘the field’ and the academy. Our reflections centre around three findings: (1) the importance of taking an intersectional approach which neither essentialises nor ignores religious aspects of positionality, whilst also being sensitive to spatial and temporal shifts in how they interact with a researcher’s gender, ethnicity, class and other identifiers; (2) the opportunities and perils of a researcher’s apparent religious common ground with participants (or lack thereof) in building rapport and negotiating a degree of insider status; and (3) the similarities and differences between suspicions of religious partialism during fieldwork and within academia.

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Section: Jennifer: Researching Gender and Civil War In Lebanonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

Rumsby

Eggert

2023

Qualitative Research

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“…We found 'sustainable development' an under-developed construct in these studies, and in SA Higher Education Studies overall. However, nine texts referred to leadership and sustainability (Council on Higher Education, 2016a, 2016bDaniels & Dasoo, 2012;Dhanpat et al, 2019;Herbst & Garg, 2017;Leal Filho et al, 2018a;Mayer, 2017a;Suransky & Merwe, 2016;Toni & Moodly, 2019) and eleven made reference to leadership, transformation and sustainability (Bazana et al, 2018;Council on Higher Education, 2016a, 2016bDaniels & Dasoo, 2012;Dhanpat et al, 2019;Herbst & Garg, 2017;Leal Filho et al, 2018a;Mayer, 2017a;Pienaar & Bester, 2009;Suransky & Merwe, 2016;Toni & Moodly, 2019).…”

Section: Literature Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“Like King, Like Subject”? The Conditions for Transformative Leadership in India and South Africa

Belluigi¹,

Dhawan²,

Idahosa³

2022

Role of Leaders in Managing Higher Education

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This chapter contributes to scholarship concerned with the meso-curriculum shaping academic citizenry, and the conditions created for leadership, participation and inclusion within higher education institutions. Cognisant of the importance of the sector to drive the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it considers the fitness-for-purpose of higher education institutions when it comes to peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), gender inequalities (SDG 5) and how these intersect with notions of quality education (SDG 4).Primary data from the standpoint of key stakeholders within six institutions from the postcolonial contexts of India and South Africa was generated. These two middle-income contexts are of interest, because they are characterised by strong constitutional commitments to democracy and social justice at the macro-level, with bold policy interventions undertaken at institutional meso-level to address the legacies of exclusion and oppression in their student and staff composition and experiences in higher education. However, the last five years have seen fraught dynamics and unrest within the sector in each country, which data from our study indicates relates partially to the politics of participation, institutional culture and a breakdown of trust in governance and management.Academic staff and those in leadership position are important agents, because of their roles and responsibilities in shaping the trans/formation of higher education and its purposes. Drawing from the quantitative and qualitative data generated for this study, the chapter explores the patterns which emerged, paying particular attention to gender and intersectional inequalities, and what they revealed about the persistence of policy-implementation gaps and also interactional dynamics which point to principle-implementation gaps. Concerns are raised about the limitations of an imaginary, when it came to the agency of leaders to effect change in the Indian context, and impoverished comprehensions around sustainable ethical leadership which emerged across the study.

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“Going beyond the call of duty”: academic agency and promoting transformation for sustainability in higher education

Idahosa,

Belluigi,

Dhawan

2024

IJSHE

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Purpose In the past decade, against increasing global inequality, higher education has grappled with increased demands for social justice, transformation and decolonisation. While a lot of research in South Africa has focused on the (im)possibilities of fostering racial, gendered, socio-economic and cultural change, the connection of such change to questions of sustainability has been less explored. The purpose of this paper is to specifically explore the agency of academics to foster transformative initiatives for sustainability within the context of institutions historically serving under-represented populations. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative methodology, this paper highlights the importance of considering sustainability in processes of transformation. This paper is specifically interested in how academic faculty and those in assigned leadership positions view their agency in relation to promoting transformation for sustainability at the institutional level. Drawing on data generated from semi-structured interviews with 13 participants at an historically Black university in South Africa, this paper details academics' and leaders’ experiences and perceptions of their agency. Findings This study reveals the adverse interactional dynamics within higher education institutions, which negatively impact academics’ participation as key agents in change processes. Positional and identity challenges faced reveal the persistence of colonial and apartheid legacies of racism, sexism, Afrophobia and xenophobia – which casts a shadow on possible trajectories of transformation and sustainability. This has serious implications for the common good, given South Africa's regional import for knowledge production and decolonisation within universities; its key role in the African 2063 Agenda; and the wider global Sustainable Development agenda. Originality/value This study highlights insufficient engagement with the sustainability of transformation efforts within the context of South Africa. This study also emphasises the relation between transformation imperatives and racial, socio-economic, gender and epistemic justice imperatives of sustainable development.

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Muslim Women Academics in Higher Education: Reflections from South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

“Like King, Like Subject”? The Conditions for Transformative Leadership in India and South Africa

“Going beyond the call of duty”: academic agency and promoting transformation for sustainability in higher education

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