SOAS’ 2015-16 Nohoudh Scholar, Farrah Sheikh, recently appeared as a special invited guest at a conference on Islamaphobia at the Université du Québec à Montréal in conjunction with the University of Berkeley’s Centre for Race and Gender.
Farrah, who was the only UK participant at the conference, delivered a talk titled ‘Locating English Muslims in a System of Intersecting Racism(s) and Challenging Notions of Whiteness in Britain’s Islamophobic Discourse’ to over 50 participants.
At SOAS as a Nohoudh Scholar in the Centre of Islamic Studies, Farrah examines the tensions that surround the idea of ‘Britishness’ and the differences in the public identifications of those considered White British versus people of colour including Muslims who are usually afforded a hyphenated identity in the public space such as ‘British Muslim’ or ‘British Pakistani’ rather than simply allowing people of colour to identify just as ‘British’.
The event was a collaboration between the Observatoire international sur le racisme et les discriminations de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) (International Observatory on Racism and Discrimination) and the Center for Race and Gender Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr Hatem Bazian, a prominent scholar leading the Berkley research centre, opened up the day’s proceedings
Farrah said: “It was a great honour to have been selected as the only UK representative for this conference. I am grateful to the organisers for the invitation to present my research, and the opportunity to learn from our North American counterparts also committed to using academia as a way to promote social justice.
“I look forward to further opportunities in the future to build scholarly links with like-minded academics and activists to further our collective social justice aims through scholarly works, and extend my thanks to the Centre of Islamic Studies at SOAS for making this possible by supporting me in my journey as a Nohoudh Scholar ”