Present, Yet Invisible: A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Female Muslim Faculty

• In Event: Navigating Faith, Identity, and Education: A MusCrit Exploration Across Academic Spheres

Abstract

Higher education institutions in the United States began and have been upheld as predominantly White dominated spaces (Justice, 2023). In recent years, however, institutions of higher education have endeavored to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on their campuses, with the goal of creating more equitable and representative environments for both learning and teaching (Foste et al., 2023; Llamas et al, 2021). Unfortunately, despite an increasingly diverse student body and implementation of numerous DEI initiatives, higher education institutions still seem to fall short when it comes to ensuring equal representation between student and faculty makeup. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (n.d.), White faculty comprised approximately 73% of full-time faculty in “degree-granting postsecondary institutions” as of 2021, with minority groups lagging far behind.
This lack of equal representation creates challenges for minority groups, both inside and outside the classroom—for students and faculty alike—that warrants further exploration. Regarding faculty specifically, extant literature focuses primarily on the Black and Latinx experience. Although this provides an important foundation for studying the minority faculty experience, it does not factor in the experiences of other minoritized populations. One such understudied population is Muslim faculty, despite the fact that the Muslim community represents a rapidly growing group in the United States (Salinas et al., 2022). What literature does exist on the Muslim population often features Islamophobia in some way, influenced by recent political rhetoric. Few studies consider the experiences of Muslim faculty outside of this, and even fewer focus on female Muslim faculty. Considering that outside political rhetoric can influence the treatment of a population, female Muslim faculty are at risk of heightened scrutiny and discrimination, both inside and outside of the classroom. This population also lies at the nexus of multiple marginalized identities: being female, being Muslim, and often, being individuals of color, creating a wholly unique identity in itself.
The purpose of this study is to explore and illuminate the lived experiences of female Muslim faculty in higher education institutions in the U.S. This study will employ a qualitative research design by interviewing female Muslim faculty at higher education institutions via a semi-structured interview format. MusCrit, a subset of Critical Race Theory, will serve as the theoretical framework for this study. MusCrit provides a deeper understanding of the unique positionality of the Muslim population in the U.S. (Ali, 2022). Although MusCrit puts forth a total of six tenets, this study will focus on two in particular: gender and identifiability. According to MusCrit, gender plays an impactful role in the experiences of the Muslim population and the role of identifiability adds an additional layer of complexity as Muslim women are often more easily identifiable in society. Combined, these tenets provide a foundation for examining the experiences of female Muslim faculty in higher education institutions. By embarking upon the study of this and other minoritized populations, universities can combat the lack of diversity and equality on their campuses and create a truly representative environment for students and faculty (Phillips, 2019).

Author

• Hina Rehman, Rutgers University