“I Am a STEM Muslimah”: Exploring STEM Identity Formation among Muslim Women Undergraduates through MusCrit and Participatory Action Research

• In Event: Advancing Critical Education of Muslim Students and Scholars: Social Justice Research in Community

Abstract

Objectives
This presentation examines how Muslim undergraduate women in STEM negotiate and affirm their STEM identities within predominantly Western, secular university environments. Drawing on a participatory action research (PAR) project titled SiSTEM (Sisters Interrogating STEM), this study explores how students resist marginalization by integrating faith, scientific inquiry, and communal support. The research responds to a gap in critical education literature regarding the role of religious identity, particularly Islam, in shaping students’ epistemologies and professional self-concepts in science and engineering fields.

Theoretical Framework
This study uses Muslim Critical Race Theory (MusCrit) as a guiding framework to examine how Muslim STEM students confront and resist anti-Muslim racism, secularism in science education, and epistemic erasure. MusCrit centers six tenets, including the permanence of anti-Muslim racism and the critique of secularism (Haque, 2023), offering a lens to understand both marginalization and resistance. Participants’ STEM identity formation is interpreted as an act of agency, spiritual devotion, and resistance to colonial and secular epistemologies.

Methodology
Using a decolonial participatory action research (PAR) methodology, the SiSTEM project was co-designed and led by a collective of Muslim women researchers, including undergraduates and the PI. The research prioritized collective meaning-making, dialogical inquiry, and identity reflection within a spiritual and culturally affirming space. This approach intentionally disrupted the hierarchical norms of academic research by positioning Muslim women students as epistemic contributors rather than subjects of study.

Data Collection
Data included participant observations, reflexive journals, team meetings, and semi-structured interviews with 9 Muslim women majoring in STEM. The data corpus also included artifacts such as group texts, artwork, and community event reflections. A thematic analysis approach was applied using a custom codebook that drew from MusCrit, Islamic values, and STEM identity research.

Results
Findings revealed that spirituality was a key factor in establishing agentic strategies that allowed for these women to persist and be resilient in STEM spaces. Participants engaged in what we term “faith-integrated STEM identity work,” affirming their STEM selves as ibadah (acts of worship), resisting deficit narratives, and cultivating communal spaces of belonging. Three key themes emerged: (1) Navigating “identity dials” in academic and social contexts, (2) Reframing scientific inquiry as a spiritual and ethical pursuit, and (3) Building communal epistemic trust through sisterhood. SiSTEM became a counterspace where Muslim women aligned their religious and scientific identities through reflection, mentorship, and collective action.

Significance of the Work
This work contributes to critical STEM education and Muslim education scholarship by illuminating how Muslim women undergraduates reimagine STEM fields as spiritually meaningful and socially just spaces. The project disrupts dominant secular narratives in science by offering a framework of spiritual identity work and resistance. It also expands MusCrit’s application to higher education and STEM, affirming that Muslim students’ experiences are not solely defined by marginalization but also by agency, vision, and transformation.

Author

• Vivian Zohery, University of Maryland