Blood rushed to our heads as we stood on our hands, feet against the wall, trying not to giggle or choke. We fought to see who could hold a handstand the longest, as we struggled to keep our shirts and skirts from falling. Glinting in the sunshine our gold cross necklaces dangled in front of ours faces, an indicator of our religion. Yet moments before the school ended its day, they had been hidden from view.
Jaclyn Rekis (2023) discusses the hypervisibility of religious dress, particularly for veiled Muslim women, noting how religious dress can “speak” regardless of intent. Religious dress serves as a visual testimony of commitment, yet this communication can be distorted by racialisation, turning it into a target for prejudice. She explores how intersecting factors of religious identity, gender, and race lead to epistemic injustice and prejudicial judgment describing the unfair treatment of someone’s capacity to know or describe their experiences, and that knowledge, power, oppression, and prejudice determine which knowledge is valued, whose voices are heard, and which stories are believed.
Haifaa Jawad (2022) further discusses how religious dress enforces stereotypes that exclude Muslim women from sports, highlighting their invisibility in major competitions and the challenges they face due to perceptions of their dress, as the sports industry often fails to accommodate the needs of Muslim women, such as sex-segregated spaces. For Heidi Safia Mirza (2018) the hijab is not a symbol of oppression but a ‘second skin’ for many Muslim women. Despite this, they face career progression barriers due to intersectional prejudices, with secular environments marginalizing religion and fostering negative stereotypes, causing religious individuals to withhold their experiences (Rekis, 2023). Trinity University (2016) highlights the criminalisation of people based on appearance and beliefs, anti-Muslim sentiment, and society’s tendency to paint entire communities with a single brush stroke. The resources emphasise that epistemic injustice will manifest uniquely for different religious identities (2023), ultimately intersectionality is a complex issue, our experiences will be different whoever we are.
When Kwame speaks of the Asante people’s religious practices, where they seek guidance from their gods and ancestors in every action. In contrast, secularism’s dominance in academia promotes a naturalistic worldview that excludes the supernatural, suppressing religious testimony and limiting the understanding of religious experiences by removing necessary language and concepts (Rekis, 2023).
During a job interview at the YMCA, I was asked how I would feel if design decisions were made through prayer. Coming from a religious background, this wasn’t out of place, but as a graduate from LCC, I was used to rational, neutral decision-making. This unexpected question highlighted the gap between rational decision-making and faith-based practices, illustrating the suppression students might feel in sharing their religious experiences.
For many, religion is a sensitive subject, and discussing faith can be tricky, yet bridging the gap between faith and design can create a more inclusive environment. Within my teaching practice, I aim to create a space where people can express their identities, especially within their work. Creating dialogue, exploring the work of creatives who integrate their faith into their work, such as Muslim Sisterhood, showing how religion can enhance and inspire creativity. Using a multifaith calendar, being aware of quiet spaces, call to prayer, Inter-Faith week and faith societies. These are important for fostering empathy and understanding different perspectives.
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References – Faith
Arts SU (ND) Inter Faith Week
https://www.arts-su.com/campaigns/liberation/interfaithweek/ (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Arts SU (ND) Societies
https://www.arts-su.com/communities/groups/societies/ (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Arts SU (ND) Believers Love World
https://www.arts-su.com/communities/groups/societies/group/believersloveworld/ (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/ (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Mirza, H.S. (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education. Edited by J. Arday and H.S. Mirza. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Muslim Sisterhood (ND) Muslim Sisterhood
https://muslimsisterhood.com/ (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Rekis, J. (2023) ‘Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account’, Hypatia, 38, 779–800. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2023.86
TED (2014) Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Thomas, C. (2022) ‘Overcoming Identity Threat: Using Persona Pedagogy in Intersectionality and Inclusion Training’, Social Sciences, 11: 249. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11060249
Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
UAL (2024) Quiet spaces
https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/student-diversity/quiet-spaces (Accessed: 18 May 2024).
Sheran, It’s wonderful to see how you have situated yourself in this blog. I find faith to be a very difficult subject to broach and you have done that with fluidity here. The works you reference collectively underscore how power dynamics marginalise certain voices and experiences, highlighting the complexity of intersectional injustice, especially when it comes to the visibility of faith and how that changes perception.
The way you reference Rekis (2023) to the UAL dashboard is really informative because you reiterate that faith is not really welcomed into secular spaces. I think the main point you make of epistemic injustice manifesting uniquely for different religious identities, is crucial for us to be able to start to develop empathy for each other and begin to understand intersectionality.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this piece and the fact that you also told us about your faith and how you situate yourself in your spiritual life vs practical life- and how your own perception has changed after your experience at the YMCA. I think it shows that we all need to have the capacity to be fluid like that and grow our understanding, especially at an arts education institution.
Thanks Leila, I do think there needs to be more work done with regards to how artists, designers and creatives can incorporate faith as part of their practice, it would also be good to learn more about how this is and can be done.
It was interesting to see the similarities here from the UAL dashboard data you presented, it seems almost the same as the student data from my course , with the vast majority 56% and 57% in your case being non religious. I too come from a religious background, but when I started University I never considered this aspect of my identity again.
I was trying to think of examples of how faith can be integrated into work, apart from the example I mentioned in my blog, the only other one I could think of was this research project below, which explored the role of new technologies on older people, in this case the researchers designed for a group of cloistered Nuns.
https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/irs/prayer-companion/
Should more examples exist especially in the Art and Design context? I like what you say about bridging the gap between faith and design, and how that can make more inclusive spaces. Perhaps if more students are encouraged to explore work with their faith and beliefs perhaps more feel more confident to will follow if they wish. I wonder what an academic space may look like if it was shaped by what Kwame Anthony Appiah describes as the Asante people’s gods and ancestors being a part of their everyday lives, or if we considered more diverse perspectives and not just dominant secular ones.
Hi Jon I definitely agree, there should be resources and or examples of how faith can be integrated into work, and something to include within our presentations so students feel that their able to do this too without feeling like they need to leave their faith behind or keep it separate.
You expertly synthesize the sources from the reading list, weaving interesting connections between them. As a whole, you give a very thoughtful summation of the ways faith intersects with our other identities and the challenge of navigating that reality in western contexts often resistant to religious perspectives. I appreciate the turn to the personal you make in the second half, offering a time when you confronted these issues head-on. Your story is honest and will help others be equally thoughtful when dealing with similar issues. Finally, your intention to bring faith-inclusiveness to your classroom is inspiring and I hope to do the same in my teaching practice.
Hi Adam, thanks for your comments. Again its about having access to resources and examples of how designers intergrate faith into their work, perhaps we could start by setting up a Padlet which we could all contribute to and access.