Education Transformation in Muslim Societies: A Discourse of Hope

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

In distressing situations, virtues such as dignity and creativity are often quickly crushed, whilst a people’s positive and shared vision of themselves and the future of their society becomes lost, victim to the weight of the reality around them. This marks a reality experienced by many Muslim societies across the world. This is especially true since 2020 when the whole world was hit with the Covid pandemic. This survival mode feeds into the psyche of Muslim youth especially where a feeling of skepticism and helplessness hangs heavily in the air, in addition to a perceived collective sense of hopelessness and disappointment. In some cases, Muslim youth see immigration as the only way out, in a bid to escape the bitter realities of their local existence and the wider socio-economic conditions of their societies. Skalli (2004) claims that Muslim youth are “in revolt against their own sense of powerlessness in the face of all the global forces that threaten their religious and cultural identity” (pp. 43-44). The globalization of our world and the hegemony of certain global trends poses an even greater challenge for Muslim youth.
Countering the discourse of negativity and powerlessness is the goal of this edited volume on hope in education. Primarily because hope can serve as an antidote to despair, potentially functioning as a strong, psychologically protective factor for adolescents facing adverse conditions (Valle et al., 2006). Hope is a complex concept and there is the tendency of scholars to use it to glorify the past and/ or accept the unknown while also expressing optimism. Zournazi (2002), for example, defines hope as creating just societies and addressing issues of globalized politics. Freire (1997) and Snyder (2005) describe hope as an expectation for things to change for the better. For Freire, humans are “eternal seekers”. He claimed that this is due to hope because without it “humans would despair in the face of their unfinishedness and would become immobilized.
Scholars from Muslim societies offer multiple perspectives on utilizing educational hope that is active and purposeful in stimulating change, dialogue, and transformation. Early years’ education and girls’ enrollment in schools are some of the areas where progress has been made in Muslim societies and yet it is not well documented. Examining effective educational initiatives and providing analysis of how they work may be a catalyst for positive educational reform and transformation. The volume with its ten chapters responds to the need to shift the educational discourse in Muslim societies from deficiency to a strength-based approach and discourse. Learning from authentic experiences and innovations that are grounded in local realities may serve Muslim societies well and provide new knowledge to a larger audience of educational experts, policy makers, and governments, among many others. Contributors from several countries agree that it is critical to bring to the forefront the whole person approach and focusing on enriching the brain as well as the spirit and instilling hope back into the teaching and learning spaces of many Muslim societies and communities.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Book Launch

Chair

• Shelley Wong, George Mason University

Discussant

• Nora El-Bilawi, GMU

Book Launch Presenter

• Ilham Nasser, International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)