Presented and moderated by: Laura Mijares, director of the Group for Analysis on Islam in Europe (GRAIS) at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

The colonial images of Muslim women as victims of the religious patriarchy who bear the burden of a backward culture which threatens modernity, or as exotic belly dancers and odalisques performing to meet the curiosity of Western audiences continue to mould the way in which we see these women portrayed in Western literature, film and popular culture. These contradictory narratives form the foundational discourses of gender-based Islamophobia in the modern era. Since 9/11 and after any act of violence related with Muslim extremist groups, Muslim women who dress in Islamic clothing are the most vulnerable targets of hate crimes and harassment in many Western nations. One of today’s challenges for Islamic feminism lies in responding to these conditions and strengthening the role of Muslim women as agents of change on their own terms, rather than just passive victims, whether of the patriarchy, religion, racism or Islamophobia.
 
Jasmin Zine has a PhD in Sociology and Studies on Equality in Education (specializing in Fighting Racism and Anti-colonial Education) at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Education Studies in Ontario, and she is currently a professor of Sociology, Religion and Culture, as well as a co-coordinator of the Muslim Studies Program (which she co-founded) at Wilfrid Laurier University. She an international expert in the field of Studies on Islamophobia. Her books include: Canadian Islamic Schools: Unraveling the Politics of Faith, Gender, Knowledge and Identity (2008, University of Toronto Press) and a co-published collection titled: Muslim Women Transnational Feminism and the Ethics of Pedagogy: Contested Imaginaries in Post-9/11 Cultural Practice (2014, Routledge Press).