In blog post one I addressed my positionality. After reflecting on that post and before starting to write this post, I noticed that I didn’t add a key aspect of it, which is that I am a Quaker. Quakerism is a way of life, it is the belief that God is a part of everyone and in all and therefore everyone and everything is interconnected. It is living one’s spirituality not preaching it, it is expanding it by learning and conversing with others. This belief system is something that shapes the lens through wich I see the world, it sahpes my practice as a teaching technician at LCF, although it is not something that I share openly at work.
Or bullet points instead…
You may be wondering why I don’t share this openly, unless it is relevant such as in this piece of writing. The answer is simple, I have often had negative experiences when sharing my beliefs, even in the presence of close friends. There are many stereotypes imposed on people that have a faith, assumptions that are untrue and hurtful. I can avoid this discomfort altogether by omitting this part of my identity, it is easy to do as my beliefs do not have racial or cultural attributes attached to them. Some of us though, do not have this option, and these negative experiences due to stereotypes attached to their faith, religion, belief or their appearance is a daily occurrence. My personal reflection on how I have actively chosen not to share such akey part of my identity, has helped me consider how to create more welcoming and safer space for my students, so they feel free of express every aspecct of their identy.
As part of this process of reflection, I have come to understand that when beliefs, race, gender and other aspects of your identity cross over/intersect this can lead to discrimination. According to Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality refers the different parts of our identity and the things that can happen to us “because of institutions that have been structured in a race, gender, class discriminatory way” (Crenshaw, n.d.).
With Crenshaw’s ideas as a starting point, she mostly writes about the expericens of black women and their intersectionality, I searched for examples of intersectionality of faith and gender. Haifaa Jawad in Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women (2022), writes that stereotypes and “messages propagated by the media…including extremist derogatory views” fuels Islamophobia and affects “the lives of all Muslims, especially Muslim women globally” (2022). She writes that not “all women who are Muslim wear the hijab or Islamic dress”, but for women who do, “visible Muslim women” there “can be issues regarding the culture of sports participation environments and Islamic codes of conduct requiring modesty in dress” (2022). For example, in some sporting environments, “there are policy or regulation” in which “the wearing of hijab is not allowed, for example in some secular states and some international sports governing bodies” (2022). This is an example of discrimination that can happen through policy due to the intersectionality of faith and gender, this is something that I want to contribute to changing.
So, is it enough to say that I will continue to foster a safe environment for my students, when I am myself not comfortable sharing that I am someone with spiritual beliefs?
In the video Challenging, Race, Religion and Stereotypes in the classroom by Trinity University, a member of their academic team (insert name here) states that negative stereotypes and rhetoric due to someone’s appearance and/or beliefs happens and that “these sorts of things are issues that we like to think don’t exist in our society, but we can’t help but notice, that they really do and we need to confront them now”. He goes on to say that to challenge basic stereotypes he teaches his students that there are “multiple different ways of looking at everything…everyone has their own perspective… and if we try to engage with empathy, we engage with difference in a way that is constructive and not destructive”. I agree with this approach and will look into ways of implementing it (example of this, for exaple I could…) more effectively in my practice.
Currently at 700 words :/
References
Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom (2016) Directed by Trinity Univeristy, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed: 09/06/25).
Crenshaw, K. (n.d.). Intersectionality is a recognition that people are multidimensional. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P-QRBdckDaw [Accessed 25 May 2025].
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp.1241–1299. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039.
Jawad, H. (2022) ‘Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women’, 22/September. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/ (Accessed 09/06/2025).
MAKERS (2023). Kimberlé Crenshaw, The Introduction of Intersectionality | MAKERS Moment. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6ugSK0cWA [Accessed 26 May 2025].
Russo, R. (2018). Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw Defines Intersectionality. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWP92i7JLlQ [Accessed 26 May 2025].
Sultana, F. (2015) “Reflexivity, Positionality and Participatory Ethics: Negotiating Fieldwork Dilemmas in International Research”, ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 6(3), pp. 374–385.
Quakers (N.A) The Quaker Way. Available at: https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/the-quaker-way (Accessed: 09/06/2025).
You are good at positioning yourself in relation to intersectionality, and deconstructing what it means to be you. It feels very natural, not just an academic exercise. This level of self-awareness must help when building relationships with your students. Setting an example of how to be self-reflective. Your caution about revealing all your ‘selves’ speaks of wisdom that comes with having identities that can make you vulnerable. We don’t all have the luxury of shouting from the rooftops.
When I was doing my O’levels in Northern Ireland at a mixed faith school, religious divisions ran deep. Our history teacher was a Quaker and she demonstrated what you say about Quakerism being a way of life not a dogma. Each lesson she gently reminded us, to quote from your bog.
‘God is a part of everyone and in all and therefore everyone and everything is interconnected. It is living one’s spirituality not preaching it, it is expanding it by learning and conversing with others.’
She used her faith to create a ‘critical pedagogy of faith’
Hi Frances,
Thank you for your kind feedback. I will look into the term ‘critical pedagogy of faith’, I look forward to reading on it.
Thank you also for sharing your personal experinces. I belive this a great way of starting and cultivating dialogue around subjects that can be deemed uncorfotable or challenging. it leads to a better insight into the world in which we live.
Dear Emilia, many thanks for sharing the insightful piece of paper and also for telling us about your spiritual journey by embracing Quakerism. I loved how you made it very personal and genuine, and how you connected your intimate experience with crucial references.
To some extent, Quakerism reminds me of Buddhism, but at the same time, if we want to find some similarities with Art, it could be laced with what the German environmental artist Joseph Beuys asserted by envisioning an equal society where every single human is an artist capable of healing the wounds caused by other men.
I am curious to know if someday you are going to share your faith with your students or with a specific cohort of students, and how that could or couldn’t affect your academic relationship with them.
Hi Giuseppe,
Thank you for your kind feedback and encouragemnet on this post and throughout this unit.
As someone who writes with susch a disctinct voice, I appreciate your feedback on my writting style, perhaps at times it may be a bit informal but overall I find it to effective.
I will look into the aritst Joseph Beuys, the work sounds fascinating!
Regarding your last point, yes I am curious on this aswellalthough I suppose if im honest not ready altogether to take this leap yet.