Muslim women

26 Sep 2018

A consolidated list of literature I have been engaging with for my PhD thesis. Those interested in researching the sporting lives of Muslim sportswomen, here ya go!

Scholarly journals

Ratna, A. (2018). Not Just Merely Different: Travelling Theories, Post-Feminism and the Racialized Politics of Women of Color. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1-32.

Sehlikoglu, S. (2018). Revisited: Muslim Women’s agency and feminist anthropology of the Middle East. Contemporary Islam, 12(1), 73-92.

Stevenson, P. (2018). Empowerment Discourses in Transnational Sporting Contexts: The Case of Sarah Attar, The First Female Saudi Olympian. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1-31.

Stride, A., Flintoff, A., & Scraton, S. (2018). ‘Homing in’on South Asian, Muslim girls’ and their stories of physical activity. Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education.

Harkness, G., Quiroz, E., & Gomez, K. (2018). Sports and Qatar’s empowered woman narrative. Sociology Compass, e12631.

Stride, A., & Flintoff, A. (2017). ‘I don’t want my parents’ respect going down the drain’: South Asian, Muslim young women negotiating family and physical activity. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 8(1), 3-17.

Toffoletti, K., & Palmer, C. (2017). New approaches for studies of Muslim women and sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52(2), 146-163.

Harkness, G., & Hongsermeier, N. (2015). Female Sports as Non‐Movement Resistance in the Middle East and North Africa. Sociology Compass, 9(12), 1082-1093.

Prouse, C. (2015). Harnessing the hijab: the emergence of the Muslim Female Footballer through international sport governance. Gender, Place & Culture, 22(1), 20-36.

Samie, S. F., & Sehlikoglu, S. (2015). Strange, incompetent and out-of-place: Media, Muslim sportswomen and London 2012. Feminist Media Studies, 15(3), 363-381.

Azizi, P., & Hassan, K. H. (2014). Iranian women, sport and the Hijab issue. Social Sciences (Pakistan), 9(6), 492-498.

Knez, K., Benn, T., & Alkhaldi, S. (2014). World Cup Football as a Catalyst for Change: Exploring the Lives of Women in Qatar’s First National Football Team–A Case Study. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 31(14), 1755-1773.

Samie, S. F. (2014). Heterosexy self/body work and basketball. Sport and South Asian diasporas: Playing through time and space. London and New York: Routledge.

Sehlikoglu, S. (2014). Imagining the self as sporting body. Cultural Anthropology Fieldsights-Field Notes.

Walseth, K., & Strandbu, Å. (2014). Young Norwegian-Pakistani women and sport: How does culture and religiosity matter?. European physical education review, 20(4), 489-507.

Benn, T., & Dagkas, S. (2013). The Olympic Movement and Islamic culture: conflict or compromise for Muslim women?. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 5(2), 281-294.

Kloek, M. E., Peters, K., & Sijtsma, M. (2013). How Muslim women in the Netherlands negotiate discrimination during leisure activities. Leisure Sciences, 35(5), 405-421.

Maxwell, H., Foley, C., Taylor, T., & Burton, C. (2013). Social inclusion in community sport: A case study of Muslim women in Australia. Journal of Sport Management, 27(6), 467-481.

Samie, S. F. (2013). Hetero-sexy self/body work and basketball: The invisible sporting women of British Pakistani Muslim heritage. South Asian popular culture, 11(3), 257-270.

Amara, M. (2012). Veiled women athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Media accounts. The International journal of the History of Sport, 29(4), 638-651.

Hamzeh, M., & Oliver, K. L. (2012). “Because I Am Muslim, I Cannot Wear a Swimsuit” Muslim Girls Negotiate Participation Opportunities for Physical Activity. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 83(2), 330-339.

Harkness, G. (2012). Out of bounds: Cultural barriers to female sports participation in Qatar. The international journal of the history of sport, 29(15), 2162-2183.

Knez, K., Macdonald, D., & Abbott, R. (2012). Challenging stereotypes: Muslim girls talk about physical activity, physical education and sport. Asia-Pacific journal of health, sport and physical education, 3(2), 109-122.

Khan, M. Y., Jamil, A., Khan, U. A., Kareem, U., & Imran, G. (2012). Female Students Opinion about Women’s Participation in Sports. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(9), 275.

Pollard, T. M., & Guell, C. (2012). Assessing physical activity in Muslim women of south Asian origin. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 9(7), 970-976.

Ahmad, A. (2011). British football: Where are the Muslim female footballers? Exploring the connections between gender, ethnicity and Islam. Soccer & Society, 12(3), 443-456

Ayub, A. (2011). A Closer Look at FIFA’s Hijab Ban: What it Means for Muslim Players and Lessons Learned. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 31(1), 43-50.

Breuer, C., Hallmann, K., & Wicker, P. (2011). Determinants of sport participation in different sports. Managing Leisure, 16(4), 269-286.

Dagkas, S., Benn, T., & Jawad, H. (2011). Multiple voices: improving participation of Muslim girls in physical education and school sport. Sport, Education and Society, 16(2), 223-239.

Harkness, G., & Islam, S. (2011). Muslim female athletes and the hijab. Contexts, 10(4), 64-65.

Limoochi, S., & Le Clair, J. M. (2011). Reflections on the participation of Muslim women in disability sport: hijab, Burkini, modesty and changing strategies. Sport in Society, 14(9), 1300-1309.

Ratna, A. (2011). ‘Who wants to make aloo gobi when you can bend it like Beckham?’British Asian females and their racialised experiences of gender and identity in women’s football. Soccer & Society, 12(3), 382-401.

Qureshi, Y. I., & Ghouri, S. A. (2011). Muslim female athletes in sports and dress code: major obstacle in international competitions. Journal of Experimental Sciences.

Amara, M., & Henry, I. P. (2010). Sport, Muslim identities and cultures in the UK, an emerging policy issue: Case studies of Leicester and Birmingham. European Sport Management Quarterly, 10(4), 419-443.

Jiwani, N., & Rail, G. (2010). Islam, hijab and young Shia Muslim Canadian women’s discursive constructions of physical activity. Sociology of sport journal, 27(3), 251-267.

Pfister, G. (2010). Outsiders: Muslim women and olympic games–barriers and opportunities. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 27(16-18), 2925-2957.

Pfister, G. (2010). Women and sport in Islamic countries. In Forum for Idræt (Vol. 1, No. 1).

Ratna, A. (2010). ‘Taking the power back!’ The politics of British–Asian female football players. Young, 18(2), 117-132.

Sofian, M., Omar-Fauzee, U. P. M., & Abd-Latif, R. (2010). The perspective of Arabic Muslim women toward sport participation. J Asia Pacific Stud, 1, 364-77.

Berger, G., & Peerson, A. (2009). Giving young Emirati women a voice: participatory action research on physical activity. Health & place, 15(1), 117-124.

Fitzpatrick, S. (2009). Covering Muslim women at the beach: media representations of the Burkini.

Mitra, P. (2009). Challenging stereotypes: The case of Muslim female boxers in Bengal. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(12), 1840-1851.

Koca, C., Henderson, K. A., Asci, F. H., & Bulgu, N. (2009). Constraints to leisure-time physical activity and negotiation strategies in Turkish women. Journal of Leisure Research, 41(2), 225-251.

Palmer, C. (2009). Soccer and the politics of identity for young Muslim refugee women in South Australia. Soccer & Society, 10(1), 27-38.

Pfister, G. (2008). Equality and social missions: Muslim women and their opportunities to participate in sport and physical activities. Hacettepe J Sport Sci, 19, 250-260.

Walseth, K. (2008). Bridging and bonding social capital in sport—experiences of young women with an immigrant background. Sport, education and society, 13(1), 1-17.

Arab-Moghaddam, N., Henderson, K. A., & Sheikholeslami, R. (2007). Women’s leisure and constraints to participation: Iranian perspectives. Journal of leisure research, 39(1), 109-126.

Benn, T., & Dagkas, S. (2006). Incompatible? Compulsory mixed-sex Physical Education Initial Teacher Training (PEITT) and the inclusion of Muslim women: a case-study on seeking solutions. European Physical Education Review, 12(2), 181-200.

Dagkas, S., & Benn, T. (2006). Young Muslim women’s experiences of Islam and physical education in Greece and Britain: a comparative study. Sport, Education and Society, 11(1), 21-38.

Kay, T. (2006). Daughters of Islam: family influences on Muslim young women’s participation in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41(3-4), 357-373.

Pfister, G. (2006). Islam and women’s sports. Sangsaeng: Living Together, Helping Each Other, (16), 12-15.

Walseth, K. (2006). Sport and belonging. International review for the sociology of sport, 41(3-4), 447-464.

Walseth, K. (2006). Young Muslim women and sport: The impact of identity work. Leisure studies, 25(1), 75-94.

Elling, A., & Knoppers, A. (2005). Sport, gender and ethnicity: Practises of symbolic inclusion/exclusion. Journal of youth and adolescence, 34(3), 257-268.

Strandbu, Å. (2005). Identity, embodied culture and physical exercise: Stories from Muslim girls in Oslo with immigrant backgrounds. Young, 13(1), 27-45.

Walseth, K., & Fasting, K. (2004). Sport as a means of integrating minority women. Sport in Society, 7(1), 109-129.

Guerin, P. B., Diiriye, R. O., Corrigan, C., & Guerin, B. (2003). Physical activity programs for refugee Somali women: working out in a new country. Women & Health, 38(1), 83-99.

Walseth, K., & Fasting, K. (2003). Islam’s view on physical activity and sport: Egyptian women interpreting Islam. International review for the sociology of sport, 38(1), 45-60.

Nakamura, Y. (2002). Beyond the hijab: Female Muslims and physical activity. Women in sport and physical activity Journal, 11(2), 21-48.

Flintoff, A., & Scraton, S. (2001). Stepping into active leisure? Young women’s perceptions of active lifestyles and their experiences of school physical education. Sport, education and society, 6(1), 5-21.

Taylor, T., & Toohey, K. (2001). Behind the veil: exploring the recreation needs of Muslim women. Leisure/Loisir, 26(1-2), 85-105.

Benn, T. (1996). Muslim women and physical education in initial teacher training. Sport, Education and Society, 1(1), 5-21.

Sfeir, L. (1985). The status of Muslim women in sport: conflict between cultural tradition and modernization. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 20(4), 283-306.

Book

Ratna, A., & Samie, S. F. (Eds.). (2017). Race, Gender and Sport: The Politics of Ethnic’other’Girls and Women. Routledge.

Hoodfar, H. (2015). Women’s sport as politics in Muslim contexts. London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws.

Tansin. Benn, Pfister, G., & Jawad, H. A. (2011). Muslim women and sport. Routledge.

Book chapters

Benn, T., & Pfister, G. (2018). Faith, Religion and Feminist Thought in Sport, Leisure and Physical Education. In The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education (pp. 609-625). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Ratna, A., Samie, S. F., Jamieson, K., & Thangaraj, S. (2018). Learning lessons from the feminisms of ethnic “Others”. In The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education (pp. 627-648). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Samie, S. F., & Toffoletti, K. (2018). Postfeminist Paradoxes and Cultural Difference: Unpacking Media Representations of American Muslim Sportswomen Ibtihaj and Dalilah Muhammad. In New Sporting Femininities (pp. 87-109). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Samie, S. F. (2017). De/colonising ‘sporting Muslim women’: Post-colonial feminist reflections on the dominant portrayal of sporting Muslim women in academic research, public forums and mediated representations. In Race, Gender and Sport (pp. 35-62). Routledge

Bahfen, N., Helal, A., & K-Hassan, A. (2017). ‘Community and camaraderie’: an exploration of Australian Muslim women’s involvement in organized sport. In Sport and Discrimination (pp. 102-118). Routledge.

Sehlikoglu, S. (2017). Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures Entry Sports: Turkey.

Kipnis, H., & Caudwell, J. (2015). The boxers of Kabul: Women, boxing and Islam. In Global Perspectives on Women in Combat Sports (pp. 41-56). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

McCue, H., & Krayem, G. (2015). Shari’a and Muslim Women’s Agency in a Multicultural Context: Recent Changes in Sports Culture. In The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World (pp. 103-118). Springer, Cham.

Samie, S. F. (2015). Being and becoming tomboys: Muslim women, gender identities and sport. In Sport in Islam and in Muslim communities (pp. 66-81). Routledge.

Hargreaves, J. (2013). The Muslim female heroic: Shorts or veils?. In Heroines of sport (pp. 60-91). Routledge.

Hassan, D., Sulayem, M. B., & O’Connor, S. (2013). Sport and women in the Middle East Awista Ayub. In Sport Management in the Middle East (pp. 171-188). Routledge.

Hargreaves, J., & Vertinsky, P. (2006). Sport, exercise, and the female Muslim body: Negotiating Islam, politics, and male power. In Physical culture, power, and the body (pp. 88-114). Routledge.

Pfister, G. (2003). 14 Women and sport in Iran. Sport and Women, 207.

Scraton, S., & Flintoff, A. (2002). Sport feminism: The contribution of feminist thought to our understandings of gender and sport. Gender and sport: A reader, 30-46.

Wray, S. (2002). Connecting ethnicity, gender and physicality: Muslim Pakistani women, physical activity and health. Gender and sport: A reader, 127-140.

Zaman, H. (1997). Islam, well-being and physical activity: Perceptions of Muslim young women. In Researching women and sport (pp. 50-67). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Dissertation

Khalaf, S. B. H. (2014). Arabic women’s participation in sport: barriers and motivation among Egyptian and Kuwaiti athletes(Doctoral dissertation, Prifysgol Bangor University).

Maxwell, H. (2012). An exploration of social inclusion in Australian community sport: The case of Muslim women(Doctoral dissertation).

News articles

Will post these soon. (There are heaps)

27 Mar 2018

It has been a long time since I’ve written….well in my blog. I am constantly writing but its mostly words, paragraphs, pages associated with my dissertation and sometimes its gibberish and other times I amaze myself!

Just in case some of you don’t know or have forgotten, I research about sports, I read about sports, I do sports, I love sports and write about it (clearly failing at that currently with my blog entries) all with a little sass, I even support many teams and get Saturday Morning Tailgate Gear to go and see them. I am not going to discuss what my research is about but you can read about it here or ask me. This particular entry is dedicated to Muslim women who take part in action sports. I will do my best to stay away from academic jargon although my mind is conditioned to think and write like that or its thinking about traveling and orcas (my heart!) and coffee.

So why action sports? Well they are awesome! Surfing, skateboarding, parkour, snowboarding, climbing, etc. Of course, the adrenaline comes with many sports but something about action sports is unique. The creativity linked with your interaction with space/surroundings, your body, the elements (water, snow, mountain), and the community which brings its unique culture.

Meet, Stuart my retro board, old school single fin board!, which I bought before I took my first surfing lesson, why because that is all I could afford and I wanted one since I was going to add surfing to my sporting life.

(Me and my surfboard)

This board is not for beginners, I basically jumped from novice to expert (WTF!). Trust me I am no expert but I am known to take alternative paths in life which are often difficult, why? because I am good at suffering (and adventure). I am still struggling as I get wiped out over and over and over again with a smile (similar to me reading and learning about the different strands of feminism minus the smile). I am a better climber, however currently, I am nursing a torn rotter cuff muscle.

So its #MuslimWomensDay, I am a Muslim sportswoman and I wanted to take this day to highlight some amazing fellow action sportswomen.

Mona Seraji, snowboarder from Iran and pretty bad@ss who has a pretty impress backstory! She broke her back and came back stronger than ever and podiumed!

(Photo from Burton article)

Amar Hadid, skateboarder from Australia who raps and is an activist!

(Photo from SBC article)

Amal Murad, parkour practitioner from United Arab Emirates and you may recognize from her the Nike Middle East advert from 2017 which I wrote about last year.

Zain Alhouti, skateboarder from Kuwait. Kuwait in the past couple of years has seen a growth of actions sports. Parkour was always present there but we are seeing a rise of skaters and wakeboarders!

(Photo from IG: @zainskates)

Yasmin Gahtani, a climber from Saudi Arabia. As we know Saudi has been making some headlines the past couple of months surrounding women and sports. Starting with placing Princess Reema Al Saud at the throne of the Saudi Federation for Community Sports. Also, Yasmin was recently (literally 24 hours ago) was named as one of the Board Members Saudi Climbing Federation.

(Photo from Al Arabia News)

I lived in Saudi for over a decade, a story for another time, they are not new to the action sports arena, there is a whole lot of mountaineers coming out of Saudi Arabia! Which leads me to the next action sportswoman:

Raha Moharrak a mountaineer from Saudi Arabia who has completed the 7 Summits! Meaning she has climbed the highest peaks on each of the continents.

(Photo from Al Arabiya)

Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh an Iranian professional climber and medalist. Iran is not new to the action sports realm either. It has a very vibrant and strong skateboarding and parkour community, along with amazing outdoorswomen.

(Photo from IG: @farnaz.esmaeilzadeh)

Anoushé Husain is a para-climber from the UK and her story wow! Just wow!

(Photo from ITV)

Sara Mudallal a parkour practitioner from the United States who has a great YouTube channel check it out here and she is the 1st Hijabi on the American Ninja Warrior.

(Photo from IG: @sara_mudallal)

This one is super cool and hot off the press and thank you to my awesome advisor Dr. Holly Thorpe who shared it with me:

Baraah, first female BMX rider from Saudi Arabia. I don’t know much about her yet but this is pretty awesome.

(Photo from Twitter: @MatthiasDandois)

And I am ending with:

Shaikha Alnouri, a professional wakeboarder (who also surfs and snowboards oh and BMX) from Kuwait who I first interviewed back in 2016.

(Photo shared by Shaikha from article)

These are just some examples of Muslim women who engage in action sports and there are plenty more! And guess what we have been around for awhile just underrepresented or misrepresented. I had to stop myself because I can continue on forever talking about my action sports kinfolk! We are more than a stereotype and our lives are complex and many of us are doing some amazing things and engaging in a variety of sports and are pretty awesome at it! Climbing EVEREST!! E.V.E.R.E.S.T!

My dissertation will… well is actually challenging some of the narratives often associated with Muslim sportswomen!

Everyone can read about it in a year as long as I stay on track!

For academic enthusiasts who want to learn more about action sports check out this amazing website.

19 Feb 2017

On February 17, 2017, the following Nike Women advert made its debut to the world. I watched this video several times and for many reasons especially since my research looks at Muslim women’s representation in sports and this video is timely.

1) The women represented in the video: As an American Muslim female also a sportswoman this video has so much meaning and power to me. You see a range of athletes, some who cover and others who do not. When Muslim women are discussed the conversation often falls within stereotypical categories — women who need saving from their oppressive cultures/countries/societies or the image of the hijab. These images and stories often come from a western media perspective and tend to paint Muslim woman in one broad stroke, forgetting that identities are complex and multi-layered. Muslims are not just from the Middle East, you have American Muslims, Russian Muslims, Canadian Muslims, hey there is a vibrant Muslim community in Cuba. There are also Black Muslims, LGBTQI Muslims, Muslims carry many intersecting identities at once, sometimes ones with conflicting politics, cultures and religious ideologies, as well as other personal characteristics and structural situations. Nike’s advert scratches the surface to show the diversity of Muslim women athletes (representing both hijabi and non-hijabi women) from the Middle East and North Africa region and the diversity of sports.

2) Let us talk about the sports represented: Running, boxing, soccer (futbol), fencing, ice skating, but for me, two specific sports brought a huge smile to my face; skateboarding and parkour.

Skateboarding

AND

Parkour (Athlete: Amal Murad – Parkour Trainer, UAE)

These sports, also known as action sports. There is plenty of research and interesting movement in this field: Action Sports for Development Peace <— yes a shameless plug. So what is so important about these two sports? First of all, are they considered a sport? I do but others may not. What are action sports? They are known as surfing, parkour, skateboarding, BMX, mountaineering, and snowboarding which gained popularity in the 1960s – 1970s and were vibrant among youth (Thorpe, 2014). Since then action sports have evolved and the trend has gone beyond Western societies and has gained popularity in Eastern societies see Thorpe & Ahmad, 2013. Aside from the fact that it is gaining momentum among diverse communities, the world will get a glimpse of what skateboarding is all about at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. Parkour, also another action sport which has not made its way to the Olympics (yet), however, the world witnessed parkour in action during the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony (time 31:50 – 35:00). There is entire academic and sport movement dedicated to what these sports mean to communities, how they reimagine spaces, and their relationship with race, gender, and class (see more work by Neftalie Williams about skateboarding and Holly Thorpe about action sports). Also, this was not the first time a Muslim female skateboarder was in a video, remember the beautifully crafted images of Afghan girls in Kabul where Skateistan teaches skateboarding to youth, even this video Saudi female movement to end male guardianship. And want a little more girls skateboarding (brown girls skateboarding!) here is another beautiful visual example of skateboarding in Banglore.

3) Muhammad Ali: My role model whom I was fortunate to have met, so did anyone catch the little nod to him? If not here it is:

Why I found this image and nod important. (1) There is an entire story behind this famous shot you can read about here. As for the nod, he was an activist, Muslim, and an athlete who inspired so many of us (athletes or not). Currently, in the U.S. the Muslim Ban, a racist executive order signed by Trump has been wreaking havoc, tearing apart families, and contributing to the rise of Islamophobia in the US and abroad. When the ban first came out, people spoke out in numbers including athletes (a list I have been compiling and will add to my site soon). At the same time there were those who came out in support of the ban and Trump (i.e. Under Armour). While UA was getting lashed out by handful of athletes (Stephen Curry and Misty Copeland) and the world, Nike put out the following advert Nike Equality promoting diversity and against the ban. I think the little homage to Muhammad Ali was Nike’s way of reminding us one of the greatest athletes was Muslim.

4) The script: الناس هيقولوا عليكي ايه translation “What will they say about you?” So coming from a culturally rich and Muslim background this specific phrase as a girl/woman one always heard and I still hear it. As a girl “you shouldn’t be out here…” it is “…unladylike…” So this specific phrase “what will they say about you?” is not a phrase made up for this particular Nike video, it is culturally rooted and is one of many barriers along with religion, race, class, socio-economic background, basically multiple issues that Muslim women encounter to overcome and achieve whatever they seek. By taking this phrase they held up a mirror to society and their perceptions of these athletes (stereotypical and at times true), which in this video went either way: negative or positive. Through statements like “maybe they will say you are strong” or “you will always find a way”… they flipped the conversation of society potentially being supportive and raising these women up “maybe they will say you’re the next big thing…” as a little girl enters a skating rink and the video ends.

Nike has had its issues regarding their sweatshops and its continuous struggle with the Native American community concerning the imagery used by sports teams (often racist).” This video is packed with power and inspiration, showcasing current female athletes from the region: Ines Boubakri (Fencer, Tunisia), Arifa Bseiso (Martial Artists, Jordan), Zahra Lari (Figure Skater, UAE), and Amal Murad (Parkour trainer, UAE). At the same time subtle messages about representation, culture, sport and society packaged in a 2-minute video.

Btw this is not the first time Nike dipped their toes in culturally rooted and aesthetically pleasing videos here are two more recent videos FKA Twigs and Nike Da Da Ding.

p.s. I am still trying to identify the skater, soccer player and the other boxer.