She Speaks: Academic Muslimahs

This episode features Dr. Julie Prior, who has a PhD in early modern and eighteenth-century drama from the University of Toronto. She is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Her research explores adaptations of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and is concerned with illuminating production history and intertextual resonances that are activated by performance. Here she talks about her journey to Islam, marriage, divorce, abuse, and Shakespeare. 

This episode is in Urdu & English. This conversation is prompted by the recent events in Pakistan, including the Noor Muqaddam case, Quratulain Baloch case, and the victim from Mohra village (name not yet released). We also talk about how patriarchy functions to attempt to shame women instead of bringing the perpetrator to justice, and why women don’t speak up about their experiences. Last, but not least, we talk about the ways some women are shielded by their privilege at the expense of other more vulnerably situated women.

how u doin?

This episode features Dr. Maha Nasaar is an Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. Today, we talk a little about history of Falestine or Palestine, the ongoing nakba or catastrophe, anti-Semitism as it relates to Palestinian liberation movements, Hamas, and issues of human rights.

Dr. Nassar specializes in Arab cultural and intellectual history with a focus on Palestinians. Her book, which received a 2018 Palestine Book Award, is titled Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World.

#Palestine #Israel #Nakba #Hamas #FreePalestine 

This episode features me, Saba Fatima! In this episode, I talk with Shannon Strom about being a woman of color in academia, being a STEM student in a patriarchal environment, performing 'professional' forms of femininity, how we have to over-perform just to clear the bar, what is standpoint theory & intersectionality, and about the future of gender relations and academia. You can learn more about me at: https://sites.google.com/view/sabafatimaphd

This episode is a re-airing of last year's Ramadan & Eid ul Fitr special. I talked to Sana Rizvi about fasting within neoliberal academia, periods, and Ramzan memories. I talked to Nausheen Pasha about her journey to loving Ramadan, to Melinda González about true spirit of fasting and being mindful, and with Rose Deighton about appreciating the simplicity of Ramadan during times of COVID. Finally, I talked to Lamiyah Bahrainwala about celebrating Eid during a pandemic and with Zainab Kabba about her varied but wonderful experiences  of Eid around the world.

Video referenced on periods and fasting:

https://www.facebook.com/themuslimvibe/videos/1112038442284489/ (I couldn't find the desi version, if you do, please send it my way)

This episode features Dr. Banafsheh Madaninejad. Dr. Madaninejad is an anti-racism and gender educator and equity strategist. She has founded Sisters in Leadership Training (https://www.sistersinleadershiptraining.com) and I-AMM (https://i-amm.org/) an anti-racist organization dedicated to Interconnecting Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners. Here, she talks about her experience of coming to the US for college, coding for NASA, switching fields from STEM to humanities, leaving academia, and of course about her podcasts The Defining Moment & Red Peace Machine (https://i-amm.org/tdm-podcast). Last but not least, we turn to her organization I-AMM and the work it does.

This episode features Dr. Amani Hassani who is the 2020 Sociological Review Fellow at Keele University in England. She talks about facing harsh scrutiny for her public scholarship, and about fighting against Islamophobia and racism against Muslims in Denmark. Check out her latest contribution to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). The "European Islamophobia Report 2020" will come out soon at www.islamophobiaeurope.com The 2019 report can be found at https://www.islamophobiaeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2019eir-DENMARK.pdf

#Islamophobia #Denmark #Europe #racism #Québec

Dr. Elora Halim Chowdhury is a Professor in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department and the Director of Human Rights Program at University of Massachusetts Boston. Her most recent book is an edited collection with Dr. Esha Niyogi De, titled South Asian Filmscapes: Transregional Encounters (2020). Dr. Chowdhury talks about her journey into academia, the Bangladeshi Liberation War, its impact on national identity, and about how foreign NGOs create boundaries of savior and poor clients. Finally, we talk about her and Dr. De’s latest book about South Asian cinema and its influence in envisioning healing and reconciliation.

Dr. Shehnaz Haqqani is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Mercer University and specializes in Islam, with a focus on gender and sexuality.

She earned her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also the co-founder of Feminist Islamic Troublemakers of North America: FITNA and the force behind the YouTube channel called What the Patriarchy?!

FITNA - Feminist Islamic Troublemakers of North America Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/feministfitna

What the Patriarchy?!: https://www.youtube.com/c/WhatthePatriarchy/videos

Freedom from the Forbidden Blog: https://orbala.net/

#Feminism #Islam #IslamicFeminism #Pashtun #women