Visibility and being Seen

IP Blog.2 Intersectionality and Religion

Ramadan discusses the ‘‘triple penalty’, where religion, gender and colour intertwine’ to affect British Muslim women, particularly hijabi, who may be perceived as being more devout or in Ramadan’s assessment more ‘traditional’ and therefore more likely to have negative or limiting assumptions made about them.

Jawad challenges the under-representation of Muslim women in sports as being more of a factor in participation than any tenet of the religion itself, referencing IAPESGW (2008) in stating that ‘Islam … endorses women’s participation in physical activity.’ Further citing from the Hadith interpreting the text as supportive of equality including in access to education, and physical education. Jawad argues that not all Muslim women preference modest dress codes and women-only sports spaces or events, but that these preferences where present could be accommodated to reduce barriers and increase representation in sports.

Rekis makes a case ‘in favor of an intersectional account of religious identity’ in the interests of epistemic justice, where religion is racialised or where elements associated with religion are extrapolated to assume beliefs or practices, again referencing the wearing of veils by Muslim women as an instance of visible faith. Rekis posits that religious testimony, or knowledge created by religious individuals is under-theorised and discredited – particularly in contrast to the discourse around other first-person narratives as valid knowledge – and highlights that focus on injustice has often been placed on marginalisation ‘within particular religious communities’. Rekis argues that our move towards a secular society and institutions may harm those who observe and participate in their religion, particularly visibly or identifiably.

While we may consider our contemporary setting as non-religious Rekis describes ‘spaces that are at once secular and shaped by the norms of a dominant religious worldview’, which is recognisable in the library context. We stock an abundance of Christianity-related materials the institution adheres to Christian holiday patterns. Christianity has few visible symbols, even a cross is not a reliable indicator of faith. In these readings the hijab or veil is drawn on as an exemplar of the visible ‘other’, a risk of being identified and under-estimated or marginalised. Acknowledging and making space for global religions is therefore an important element of representation and diversity in this context, as full secularism had not been achieved in any case, and the partial secularism retains western and global north dominance.

In my library context I’ve made some progress in instantiating a more contemporary version of the Dewey classification system in the 200’s (religions), which remain Christo-centric but have been expanded, having previously treated non-Christian religions as a mass of ‘others’ rather than individual religions and belief systems. I will be adding religion and belief as a theme to the Fine Art subject guide bibliography so that students researching indentities that include religion, belief systems, or their spirituality, are supported with resources. I will ensure a breadth of religions are represented in the recommended resources and I will also ensure that we continue to focus on increasing breadth of representation in the collections. Seeing representation in the collections should form an element of feeling ‘seen’ by the institution.

References

Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/. Accessed on 06/05/2025.

OCLC (no date) 200 Religion. Available at:  https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/webdewey/help/200.pdf . Accessed on 06/05/2025.

Ramadan, I. (2022) When faith intersects with gender: the challenges and successes in the experiences of Muslim women academics, Gender and Education, Vol.34 (1),pp. 33-48. doi : https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1893664 .

Rekis, J. (2023), Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia Vol.38,pp. 779–800. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2023.86.