School of Sociology and Social Policy academics and students raise awareness to combat Islamophobia
Ahead of the upcoming United Nations International Day to Combat Islamophobia in March, we look back at activities led by SSP academics last semester to mark Islamophobia Awareness Month 2024.
Global Islamophobia: an art and photography exhibition
On Tuesday 19 November 2024, the Iqbal Centre for Critical Muslim Studies organised a photography and art exhibition for Islamophobia Awareness Month, in association with the University’s Muslim Staff Network, and with support and resource from the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies and the University’s Equality and Inclusion Unit.
Colleagues and postgraduate research students from the School of Sociology and Social Policy (SSP) were part of the team that organised and delivered the event. The one-day pop-up exhibition filled Parkinson Court South and drew a wonderful turn out despite the first snow of the year falling that day.
The hosting Iqbal Centre, which is based in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at Leeds, works to promote the research and teaching of Critical Muslim Studies and related fields across the University of Leeds, and includes a number of School of Sociology and Social Policy academics among its leadership.
Dr Claudia Radiven, Diamond Jubilee Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, led on organising and curating the exhibition and said:
In a context where issues of citizenship, scholasticide and being able to simply exist are at the forefront of concern for Muslims around the world, we at the Iqbal Centre wanted to bring together a visual demonstration of that lived experience, moving away from the format of talks and lectures to deliver an event that would ‘show rather than tell’.
The photos displayed in the exhibition were gathered from contacts all over the world known to us and show first-hand the terrible consequences and conclusions of Islamophobia, particularly at the hands of state actors.
Read Dr Radiven’s blog reflecting on and contextualising the exhibition.
Islamophobia at home and abroad
Also to mark Islamophobia Awareness Month 2024, the School of Sociology and Social Policy-based Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) held a panel discussion on “Islamophobia at Home and Abroad” with speakers from the School as well as from the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies and Leeds Beckett University.
In a blog piece for CERS, postgraduate researcher Mona Makinejad recaps and responds to the presentations and discussions that took place at the November event, offering her own insights and analyses as a research student working on a PhD focused on Global Islamophobia.
Read Mona’s ‘Global Islamophobia’ blog for CERS.
SSP researchers’ collaborative leadership on defining and combatting Islamophobia
The 2024 exhibition and event for Islamophobia Awareness Month built on a wealth of related expertise within the School of Sociology and Social Policy, home to a number of leading academics and research students in the field of Islamophobia studies.
In recent years, for example, research by leading SSP academics provided crucial evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims throughout the process of developing the working definition of Islamophobia:
Islamophobia is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.
Organisations across sectors up and down the UK have adopted the definition, including universities such as London Met, the University of Edinburgh, Goldsmiths University, the Open University, the University of Nottingham, the University of Bradford, and the University of Durham.
Here in the University of Leeds’ School of Sociology and Social Policy, many of our academic experts on Islamophobia, and students undertaking Islamophobia-related research, regularly share knowledge and research through ReOrient, the flagship academic journal of Critical Muslim Studies, which hosts a podcast (Radio ReOrient) a blog, and an annual international conference.
ReOrient’s first three three-day conferences have all been hosted at Leeds, drawing scholars, researchers and thinkers from around the world to engage in ‘ReOrienting’ the respective themes of ‘the (Global) South’ (2024), ‘the Muslim Question’ (2023) and ‘the Post-Western’ (2022). The 4th International Critical Muslim Studies Conference will take place in May-June 2025, on the theme of ‘ReOrienting Resistance’.
Teaching modules
Prospective students interested in this area of expertise may like to take a look at the following teaching modules:
Undergraduate modules:
- Identities and Inequalities (SLSP1191)
- State Crime and Immorality (SLSP3211)
- Formations of Coloniality and Modernity (SLSP1213)
Postgraduate module:
- Racism, Decoloniality and Migration (SLSP5241M)
Islamophobia Awareness Month, a globally-recognised campaign which launched in London in 2012, takes place every November, aiming to educate and empower audiences, amplify Muslim voices, provide counter-narratives and encourage open discussion on topics related to Islamophobia.
The United Nations International Day to Combat Islamophobia takes place on 15 March every year.
