January62012
racismfreeontario: Sunera Thobani is Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia.  Since her appointment at UBC, Dr. Thobani has been committed to using an interdisciplinary approach in her teaching and research, and to maintaining her involvement in community and social justice activities.  Dr. Thobani’s academic publications include articles in journals such as Canadian Woman Studies, Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal, Journal of Canadian Women and the Law, Refuge, Feminist Theory and Race & Class. Her research focuses on globalization, citizenship, migration and race and gender relations. Her book, Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, was by the University of Toronto Press (2007), and her current research projects focus on Gender, Race, Globalization and Media Representations of the War on Terror.  Dr. Thobani is also past president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada’s then largest feminist organization (1993-1996). The first woman of colour to serve in this position, Ms. Thobani’s tenure was committed to making the politics of anti-racism central to the women’s movement. In her community work she has written and spoken on many issues, including the impact of globalization on women’s citizenship; Canadian immigration and social policy; new reproductive technologies; violence against women; and women and APEC. She has been invited to help organize and give addresses at numerous international conferences, including the NGO Forum at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1996), the First International Women’s Conference on APEC in Manila, Philippines (1996), and the National Association of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Councillors in Manchester, Britain(1998). She is also a founding member of the cross-Canada Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equity (RACE) network (2000). “One of my major goals is to reach young women and to teach them about women’s activism, historically,” says Dr Thobani. For her, women’s empowerment is about “creating real material options for women to end poverty and violence in their lives.” As a Muslim woman and scholar, Dr. Thobani is at the forefront of educating people about Islam and its values. She challenges women to achieve more and sets the record straight on the stereotypes surrounding Muslim women. “It is very important for young women to think critically, to feel the power that women have and to join forces with those who want a world based on justice.”  Day 12 of Racism Free Ontario’s 100 People of Colour Spotlight. Follow our facebook fanpage , tumblr, twitter and website for daily updates. ( Videos and more @ Sunera Thobani)

racismfreeontario:

Sunera Thobani is Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia.  Since her appointment at UBC, Dr. Thobani has been committed to using an interdisciplinary approach in her teaching and research, and to maintaining her involvement in community and social justice activities.  Dr. Thobani’s academic publications include articles in journals such as Canadian Woman Studies, Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal, Journal of Canadian Women and the Law, Refuge, Feminist Theory and Race & Class. Her research focuses on globalization, citizenship, migration and race and gender relations. Her book, Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, was by the University of Toronto Press (2007), and her current research projects focus on Gender, Race, Globalization and Media Representations of the War on Terror. 

Dr. Thobani is also past president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada’s then largest feminist organization (1993-1996). The first woman of colour to serve in this position, Ms. Thobani’s tenure was committed to making the politics of anti-racism central to the women’s movement. In her community work she has written and spoken on many issues, including the impact of globalization on women’s citizenship; Canadian immigration and social policy; new reproductive technologies; violence against women; and women and APEC. She has been invited to help organize and give addresses at numerous international conferences, including the NGO Forum at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1996), the First International Women’s Conference on APEC in Manila, Philippines (1996), and the National Association of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Councillors in Manchester, Britain(1998). She is also a founding member of the cross-Canada Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equity (RACE) network (2000).

“One of my major goals is to reach young women and to teach them about women’s activism, historically,” says Dr Thobani. For her, women’s empowerment is about “creating real material options for women to end poverty and violence in their lives.” As a Muslim woman and scholar, Dr. Thobani is at the forefront of educating people about Islam and its values. She challenges women to achieve more and sets the record straight on the stereotypes surrounding Muslim women.

“It is very important for young women to think critically, to feel the power that women have and to join forces with those who want a world based on justice.” 

Day 12 of Racism Free Ontario’s 100 People of Colour Spotlight.

( Videos and more @ Sunera Thobani)

(via brownpeople)

Sunera Thobani canada academic feminist 

December132011
lotus-eyes: Rally led by poetess Sufia Kamal Sufia Kamal (Bangla: সুফিয়া কামাল) (June 20, 1911-November 20, 1999) was a poet, writer, organizer, feminist and activist from Bangladesh. She was born to a Muslim family in Barisal, Bangladesh. She is one of the most widely recognized cultural personalities in Bangladesh. When she died in 1999, she was buried with full state honors, the first woman in Bangladesh to receive this honor. Shewas born in Shaestabad, daughter of a distinguished zamindar family, in Barisal. During her childhood, women’s education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learnt Bangla, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. They had a daughter, Amena Kahar, and Mr. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Ms. Kamal married Kamaluddin Ahmed. In addition to her first daughter, Ms. Kamal is survived by two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal; two sons, Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal; three grandsons, three granddaughters and four great-grandchildren. A short story “Shainik Bodhu” which she wrote was published in a local paper in 1923. She came across prominent South Asian personalities, such as Begum Rokeya, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Mahatma Gandhi. Rokeya, who can be regarded the first female feminist of Bengal, had a lasting impression on her. Sufia Kamal’s first poem, Bashanti (Of spring), was published in the then influential magazine, Saogat in 1926. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be the member of Indian Women Federation.

lotus-eyes:

Rally led by poetess Sufia Kamal

Sufia Kamal (Bangla: সুফিয়া কামাল) (June 20, 1911-November 20, 1999) was a poet, writer, organizer, feminist and activist from Bangladesh. She was born to a Muslim family in Barisal, Bangladesh. She is one of the most widely recognized cultural personalities in Bangladesh. When she died in 1999, she was buried with full state honors, the first woman in Bangladesh to receive this honor.

Shewas born in Shaestabad, daughter of a distinguished zamindar family, in Barisal. During her childhood, women’s education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learnt Bangla, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. They had a daughter, Amena Kahar, and Mr. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Ms. Kamal married Kamaluddin Ahmed.

In addition to her first daughter, Ms. Kamal is survived by two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal; two sons, Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal; three grandsons, three granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.

A short story “Shainik Bodhu” which she wrote was published in a local paper in 1923. She came across prominent South Asian personalities, such as Begum Rokeya, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Mahatma Gandhi. Rokeya, who can be regarded the first female feminist of Bengal, had a lasting impression on her.

Sufia Kamal’s first poem, Bashanti (Of spring), was published in the then influential magazine, Saogat in 1926. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be the member of Indian Women Federation.

(via espritfollet)

Sufia Kamal Bangladesh feminist activist writer 

April172011
Fatemeh Fakhraie of MMW (via Muslimahs in the Media Do It Themselves - elan: The Guide to Global Muslim Culture)

Fatemeh Fakhraie of MMW

(via Muslimahs in the Media Do It Themselves - elan: The Guide to Global Muslim Culture)

Fatemeh Fakhraie MMW Muslimah Media Watch Muslimah Muslim Muslim Woman Feminist Islam photo 

November42010

Diam’s

On the Map: Judging An Emcee By Her Cover

Since her 2007 album Dans ma Bulle (Inside My Bubble) debuted at the top of the charts by selling 50K copies in its first week, Diam’s has become the hottest emcee in France. Not the hottest female emcee, but the hottest emcee in general. Diam’s is known as a feminist rebel who spits rhymes about war, racism, poverty, and injustice—something that has placed the rapper in the line of French media fire. Unable to handle the constant public scrutiny she faced as a controversial celebrity, Diam’s retreated from the limelight in 2008 to go on a personal introspective journey. That journey led her to Islam, a faith to which she has now converted saying, “Modern medicine was not able to heal my soul, so I turned to religion.”

Given France’s current hostility to observant Muslims (particularly Muslim women), it probably should come as no surprise that French feminists have been quite vocally intolerant of Diam’s decision. Safia Labdi, president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores nor Submissives), told Le Parisien, “With this new image, Diam’s represents submission, tradition and isolation. She was lost, and found herself by wearing the veil. This is something that we unfortunately see with a lot of young girls.”

Aside from being ultra-patronizing (at 29-years-old Diam’s is hardly a “young girl”), Labdi’s comment makes the oft-heard yet erroneous assumption that veiled Muslim woman = submissive and traditional. The still-subversive lyrics on her newly released album, SOS, makes Ladbi’s description of Diam laughable, and the rapper is hardly being kept in isolation as she kicks off her four-month countrywide tour. In fact, Diam’s decision to wear the veil springs, in part, from her desire to confront prejudice, not unlike the kind Labdi espouses.

Diam’s is not betraying her political sensibilities by converting to Islam and wearing hijab, but French feminists in the vein of Ni Putes Ni Soumises (I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the bias against sex workers in the organization’s name) are certainly betraying Diam’s, and other Muslim women, by holding such Islamophobic views.

Source: Bitch

diam's france muslimah muslim hijabi french emcee feminist feminism 

October152010
#1 Most BADASS person I know.

#1 Most BADASS person I know.

hijabi inspiration photo melbourne Crooked Rib Art badass muslimah awesome feminist feminism 

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