|  | Feature: “Recreation Sport and Social Change in Sustainable Community Development” | No.55 January 2009 |
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Muslim Women in Sport: A Researcher’s Journey to understanding ‘Embodied Faith’ Tansin Benn |
The motivation for this paper is to share the concept of embodied faith as significant in constructing a framework for shared understanding of the life experiences of believers. The intellectual journey has developed over fifteen years of empirical research into the life experiences of Muslim women in the areas of physical education and sport. This work has built on that of many others on issues of equality, the body, physical education and sport, for example Evans et al (2004), Garrett (2004) and the seminal work on religion, belief, bodies and identity by Shilling (2008). The paper is structured in two distinct but connected parts. Part one identifies the theoretical location of ‘embodied faith’. Part two shares a narrative/autoethnography in which I track aspects of my personal experiential journey as an empirical researcher that led to an understanding of the significance of embodied faith in the lives of others. This has developed over many years of living, working and researching with people of strong religious convictions who embody faith and physicality in ways rarely discussed in available literature; experiences gained initially in England and more recently with people from different countries in Europe, the Middle and Far East. Today we are trying to live ever closer to the lives about which we write … today we are trying to show not that we can live those lives but that we have lived close enough to them to begin to understand how the people who live those lives have constructed their worlds. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000, p. 1058) Thus I find myself as researcher, white, ‘western’ and agnostic, standing in solidarity with Muslim girls and women across the world who fight for the right to both embody their faith and participate in physical activity, from school-level to international competition, for the basic human right to “manifest one’s religion or beliefs” (1998 Human Rights Act). This intellectual journey has been contemporary with Muslim and non-Muslim researchers, mainly in the field of equity, in pursuing physical education and sporting rights for others who are disadvantaged or marginalised from mainstream life chances (for example Evans, 1993; Evans et al, 2004; Flintoff, 2008). What we share as researchers is a social justice agenda, skills to maximise opportunities to see, listen, analyse and interpret, to travel and engage with others in our work, then discuss new perspectives that grow out of the research experience. Despite literature illuminating religious prejudice and discrimination in the lives of Muslim girls and women since the early 1990s (Carroll and Hollinshead, 1993; Benn, 1996) there is still reluctance and resistance to listening to the voices of Muslim women and to working towards inclusive practices that prioritise participation in physical education and sporting arenas. Here I am referring to societies where freedom of religion is embedded in constitutions. This is not to deny differences in experiences of Islam in countries, for example, that protect secularism by banning religious symbols or those which enforce Islam as a political system. In countries such as Britain that claim religious freedom, there are still gatekeepers in school physical education departments, centre managers and sports federations whose policies deny Muslim girls and women the right to adhere to religious requirements for modesty, for example to retain hijab while participating. There is no intention to homogenise Muslim girls and women but to recognise the diversity of lived experience and the importance of freedom of choice. The struggle recounted here focuses predominantly on those Muslim women who do choose to cover, and in some cases to participate in single-sex environments. It is this group that meets the most prejudice and discrimination in western contexts (Conway, 1997; Jawad and Benn, 2003; Stone, 2004). It is necessary to understand why the issue is important to some Muslim women and therefore why we should listen and make spaces for difference. Crucial to understanding the struggle is recognition of contested terrain of the body which is central to physicality in all forms, and the role of religious culture in life-choices and identity for believers adhering to religious culture since: “Bodies are both inscribed with and vehicles of culture” (Garrett, 2004, p141). Understanding the significance of ‘e mbodied faith’ in the lives of believers leads to grasping the core motivation of all who join the struggle through research and action to improve the inclusion of Muslim women in all areas of physical activity. Intersectionality and Religion In my research journey, I seek the spaces where intersectionality makes any understanding challenging in its complexity, diversity and constant fluidity (Flintoff et al, 2008). These spaces are where multiple axes of oppression such as gender, disability, class, age, ethnicity or religion can co-exist in an embodied, integrated and holistic way that frames a disadvantaged, marginalised reality. At the heart of that intersectionality are people trying to make sense of the world around them and their place in it. Struggle is inevitable for marginalised groups in a world where globalisation processes spread dominant views that desensitise us to understanding and respecting difference. One example is the global drive to buy and sell uniformity, franchised commodities from Starbucks to superstars, as well as educational curricula, sporting and body fitness packages. These intimate a world of ‘sameness’ in lifestyle, personal choice and aspiration whilst ignoring the importance of difference. Those who voice the need to acknowledge difference as something to be valued and retained (Figueroa, 1993) are fighting hegemonic beliefs on a global scale, for example concerning religion, especially Islam. Islamophobia, or the irrational fear or hatred of Muslim people, has accelerated after the bomb attacks of September 11th, 2001 and subsequent terrorist attacks perpetrated in the name of Islam (Conway, 1997; Allen and Nielsen, 2002; Stone, 2004; Fekete, 2008; Esposito and Mogahed, 2007). Islamophobia continues to impact on constraining life experiences for Muslims and non-Muslims, for example fear of non-Muslims to engage in issues related to Islam, and fear of Muslim people, including some living in Islamic countries, who want to travel but are afraid of meeting negative reactions or hostile treatment. Media-hyped discourses remain predominantly negative, for example in England of ‘disaffected Muslim youth’ and challenging fundamentalism. Discourse rarely focuses on Muslim girls and women but writers are sharing some of their experiences, for example, struggles for equity and processes of faith development (Jawad and Benn, 2003; Radzi, 2006; Zehiri, 2008). Importantly there is growing attention in Islamic studies to improving the life chances of Muslim women through a faith-based approach to empowerment. Islamic feminist approaches seek to challenge repression created by male interpretation of Islamic texts used to oppress women (Ahmed, 1992; Wadud, 2006). Some authors have used this approach to give legitimacy to the struggle of Muslim women in the sporting arena, claiming nothing in the holy texts precludes women’s involvement providing Islamic requirements around modesty can be met (Sfeir, 1985; Daiman, 1994; Pfister, 2003; Ehsani et al, 2005). The contested nature of the body domain is illustrated by the example of concern over representations of the female athlete’s body in the media and the objectification and sexualisation of the female sporting body (Creedon, 1994). Such objectification does little to advance the struggle of Muslim women who want to participate in sport, which is seen as western and secular. Reporting Muslim women’s athletic participation in the West often receives negative media attention, for example the fatwa declared by an Islamic fundamentalist group on Sania Mirza from Pakistan, for supposedly bringing Muslim women into disrepute by wearing short tennis skirts (Benn and Ahmed, 2006, p.121). In the western press, there are few positive images of successful hijab-wearing athletes from other countries, such as sprinter Roqaya Al-Ghasara (Bahrain), who has competed in international sporting events, including the Olympic Games (Al-Gazaf, 2007, p.10 -11). She wears hijab and regards this as normal and empowering stating: The hijab has never been a problem for me. In Bahrain you grow up with it … there are more women all the time from countries like Qatar and Kuwait. You can choose to wear the hijab or not. For me it’s liberating. (in Mahmood, 2008). But there is no such ‘normality’ in some countries, notably in the West. For British Muslim women to find international competition that accommodates such Islamic requirements, some turn to the Women’s Islamic Games (WIG) held in Tehran, Iran, every four years (Benn and Ahmed, 2006). Media attention for the ‘novelty’ of British Muslim women participating in the Women’s Islamic Games in 2005, brought interest connected to ‘Britishness’ rather than skill level but such attention also empowered the athletes to defend, when challenged, questions about their ‘British Muslim’ identity: The experience brought my religious and national identity to the surface, I am a British Muslim. It was an honour to be representing my country and maintaining my religious belief. We were required to defend this when we were interviewed on British Islam Channel (television) before we went. (Aisha’s narrative in Benn and Ahmed, 2006, p.128) Freedom of choice over athletic dress for Muslim participants who wish to embody their faith is not possible in every sport. This is epitomised by the strict minimal dress code set by the international governing body for women’s beach volleyball. Nor is choice a reality for all women. For example, in Saudi Arabia, it remains difficult for women to participate in public sports events but a recent change is to be welcomed (Bader, 2008). Opportunities of single-sex provision can be more limited for Muslim women living in western countries that do not have the facilities and infrastructure for gender segregated sporting opportunities. Creative solutions can be, and are, found in places but provision of resources remains problematic and limited (Benn and Ahmed, 2006). So women’s identity, corporeal, religious, cultural and situational realities all impact on opportunities for Muslim girls and women to participate in physical activity. Of all the areas of intersectionality that are discussed in the current sport/physical education literature, the interface with religion is least prominent, which is perhaps unsurprising in a field led predominantly by the secular western academic establishment. The seminal work of Shilling (2008) does discuss the significance of belief and religious identity in the recent resurgence of people’s quest for a sense of sacred, faith and religious identity. Globally, this is evident across Europe and America and also in Africa, South America and Asia. Shilling suggests that modernisation and the technological culture have created a void by dehumanisation: diminishing, for example, a sense of belonging, of community. Shilling identifies causes of this void in the psychologising of religious beliefs, that is reducing adherence to private, internalised conceptual understandings and values divorced from corporeal dimensions of social action. He examines the significance of embodiment of religious cultures and embodiment of habits, bodily practices that give meaning and a sense of fulfilment to being human, for example, routine behaviour, conformity embraced in the five pillars of faith that require bodily techniques and reflect Muslim religiosity (Shilling, 2008, p.154). Alongside discussing Islam, Shilling also discusses resurgence of forms of Christianity and other religious cultures such as Taoism, Confuscianism and New Age spiritualities. Developing this important work by linking the frameworks with empirical work and field researcher experience offers insight to the lived realities of embodied faith and the effects on participation in physical activity. Embodied Faith The notion of embodiment of physical identity has been used to acknowledge the complexity of the social self, the material, physical, biological as well as the social whole of the ‘lived body’ (Garrett, 2004, p141). In the sphere of physical education and sport, there is inadequate attention to the significance that adherence to cultural values, beliefs, practices and behaviours stemming from commitment to a faith can bring to lived physicality. Similarly, there has been a lack of attention to ways in which success and attainment are centrally ‘embodied’ in physical education (and sport) and therefore often: “… ignored or marginalised in broader debates about difference and education” (Flintoff et al, 2008, p.74). The globally identifiable religious symbolism of hijab brings instant visibility of commitment to the faith of Islam. Adopting hijab as a conscious decision regarding chosen identity is highly significant because it is symbolic of publicly visible adherence to Islam (Zebiri, 2008). Faith is embodied in a total sense in that presentation of the body, its appearance and parameters of physicality are integral to religious identity, the lived reality of pursuit of religious belief and the affirmation of religious identity. Embodiment of faith extends to a way of life, underpinning all social interactions, values, beliefs and behaviours. An example was found in the lives of Muslim women teachers in England: For the (Muslim women teachers in that research), the embodiment of an Islamic identity entailed more than the wearing of the hijab; it meant following Islamic guidelines by constantly striving to live their lives in terms of beliefs, attitudes, behaviour and actions, as good Muslims. (Benn, 2003, p 145) Embodiment of faith was also found in the religious commitment of Omani women (Benn and Al-Sinani, 2007). The concept of embodied faith gives meaning to the interconnectedness of faith, body and identity, and global Islam moves across national boundaries. Sometimes sporting systems and structures and schooling processes challenge the right of Muslim girls and women to embody their faith and participate. The outcome is either non-participation or negotiation for compromise. I have been involved with co-ordinating two such arenas of negotiation in 2008, one at local UK level and one at international level. The first was co-ordinating a research team in the city of Birmingham, England to produce city guidance to improve the inclusion of Muslim girls in physical education where parents had been withdrawing their girls because religious requirements were not being met (BASS, Project 2008). The second was during my three months of research in Oman when one week was devoted to co-ordinating an international study week involving sixteen delegates from fourteen countries across Europe, Middle East and Far East. The focus of the study week was ‘Improving opportunities for Muslim girls and women in physical activity’. In both cases, solutions to improve inclusion were negotiated in a space between universal human rights and cultural relativity recognising the importance of situation and of consensus through negotiation. This process lies in the sphere of situated ethics (Henry, 2007), which enables outcomes that offer a middle way in an ongoing process of dialogue (Benn and Koushkie, 2008; Benn, Dagkas and Jawad, 2009 in press). In the case of the BASS Project, guidance for city schools was produced following a collaborative study involving all city schools in questionnaires, case studies, community groups, head teachers, teachers, advisors, parents and young people, with consultation at national level with the Muslim Council of Britain, the Association for Physical Education and the National Dance Teachers Association. Final schools’ guidance is available via the UK national subject ‘Association for physical education’ website at www.afpe.org.uk. In the case of the international week, a declaration ‘Accept and Respect’ was one outcome, which will be discussed in more detail later. So, how did I, as researcher, arrive here in 2009? The remainder of this paper is devoted to a personal narrative/autoethnography that analyses the influence of selected key people and events on a fifteen year research journey to improve cross-cultural understanding related to life experiences of Muslim women. A Researcher’s Journey My researcher’s journey started long before 2009 and is shared in a personal narrative that explains some of the people and events that have led to coming to understand ‘embodied faith’, and standing alongside marginalised voices for fifteen years. My contributions have been: “… counternarratives that dispute misleading generalisations or refute universal claims … (working) from an empirical base that is more inclusive” (Maynes et al, 2008, p.1). In Sparkes’s (2002), terms of narrative writing, the form adopted here, perhaps comes closest to snapshots of an autoethnography, defined by Richardson as: “… highly personalised and revealing texts in which authors tell stories about their own lived experience” (cited in Sparkes, 2002, p. 73). In many ways, such revelations of personal reflectivity challenge traditional ways of writing which are “…devoid of human emotion and self-reflection … experience(ing) life but writ(ing) science” Krizk (1998 cited in Sparkesn 2002, pp. 88 – 89). There is much criticism of the genre of writing as a form of self-indulgence but also growing support for making public experiences that increase understanding through lived realities: … autoethnographies can encourage acts of witnessing, empathy and connection that extend beyond the self of the author and thereby contribute to sociological understanding … Autoethnographies and narratives of the self, … have the potential to challenge disembodied ways of knowing and enhance empathetic forms of understanding by seeing our “actual worlds” more clearly. (Sparkes, 2002 pp. 99-100) From the outset, this has necessarily been a collaborative journey. This paper can only focus on some of the influences, people and events that have led me to an understanding of the significance of embodiment of faith in the lives of those who have generously shared with me so many aspects of their lives. Broadening frames of reference for seeing the world more fully through the lives of others started when I moved to Birmingham, a large multi-cultural city in the centre of England, for a teaching post in the late 1970s. Born and raised in the south-west of England, a move to a more culturally diverse North Midlands town for teacher training and early career experiences had remained a predominantly ‘white experience’. These years were more egocentrically focused on growing up, life at college then learning vocational skills of contributing as a young member of a large team of physical education staff at a local comprehensive school. Once able to take a more mature look at life, vocation and friendships, I gained a head of department physical education post in Birmingham. It was the professional and personal friendships established in and across cultural boundaries in that city over many years and more recently internationally, that have broadened my understanding, empathy and respect for religious and cultural diversity and for diverse ways in which this manifests itself in my subject interests of physical education, sport and dance, all of which are centred on the body and therefore directly connected with experiences of embodiment and key influences on these such as religion. Professional life-changing encounters Reflecting on why I, as researcher, do what I do, brings me to sharing necessarily selected encounters with two significant people and three events which also centre on human interaction. People 1. Colleagues who embodied different faiths Two examples have been chosen to illustrate how long established encounters with women colleagues of different faith opened doors to understanding embodied faith in different but equally significant ways. Both have agreed to their names and contributions being described here. The first is a Hindu woman, professional dance artist Chitraleka Bolar who came to Birmingham, England from Kerala, South India, to be married in 1978. Her unstinting work in England for over thirty years has enriched the lives of many as she choreographs her work with artists in music and dance for the schools and theatres of England and leads on guiding and training the next generation of professional dancers to keep her art of Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form, alive in England. All this time she has worked as Artist in Education to broaden understanding of the art form, its symbolism connected to the religion of Hinduism and the cultural transmission and transformation of centuries old technical and expressive traditions. Being South Asian and now a British citizen has led to the development of creative approaches to teaching a strictly disciplined art form to increase accessibility in education. Also, there have been fusion experiments at performances using the multiple dance forms that co-exist in the city and that can link times and places, tradition and modernity in new and dynamic ways. I have learned much from being part of observing and interacting with the work of Chitraleka during those years. I have come to understand and deeply respect the depth of meaning her faith holds and its ritualistic sacred embodiment in very real ways, for example in dance gestures, opening and closing workshop salutations and the religious symbolism of the poses and movement vocabulary of the art form. Being an outsider to the religion has meant limited but increasing ability to decode some of the religious significance embodied in performances. This has not detracted from ability to appreciate the work on different levels, for example artistically in terms of style, technique, use of rhythm, pattern, music, skill and expression. Embracing diverse cultural art forms and having long-term insider access to the life and work of such an artist has broadened my understanding of the world, and in this case, of an embodied faith shared in creative ways through the medium of an art form. The second influential person in increasing my understanding of difference grew through a long-term friendship with another colleague, this time a Muslim woman, who came to England from Baghdad, Iraq in 1984 to conduct her research work on the relationships between Europe and the Arab World. Dr Haifaa Jawad subsequently worked as a Middle Eastern and Islamic scholar in the South East of England. In the early 1990s, we found ourselves working in the same institution in Birmingham where senior managers had taken a courageous decision to open a teacher training course to allow specialisation in Islamic studies. The intention was to encourage more ethnic minority students into the primary teaching profession. At the time, Haifaa was appointed to lecture in Islamic Studies and I was head of the physical education department at the institution. The influx of Muslim women to the Islamic Studies path was welcomed but the problems encountered ensured many institutional changes were needed to accommodate the religious requirements of the women, for example in provision of single-sex accommodation, halal food, a prayer room and single-sex physical education (Benn, 1996). It was working in collaboration with Haifaa that brokered my first research encounters with Muslim women student-teachers and longitudinal research into their life experiences (Benn, 1998). There began many years of encouragement, support and facilitation, which has spanned my work with and for Muslim women in the UK and more recently internationally, particularly in the Middle East and Arab countries. Haifaa works in the area of Contemporary Islamic studies that includes topics related to Muslim women’s issues, Christian-Muslim relations, Islamic Spirituality, Muslims in Britain and Middle East affairs. Her breadth of knowledge and critical insight into Islam, Muslim lives and communities has been generously shared. This has deepened my understanding of the sensitivity, complexity and diversity of Muslim identities within our institution, city and beyond. Also, I have seen the consistency with which Haifaa embodies her faith in terms of daily prayer rituals, adherence to body abstinence, for example in fasting during Ramadan and her choices for modesty in dress code and social interaction. An Islamic feminist, Haifaa works with authentic Islam (Jawad, 1998) to clarify the rights of women in Islam and contests pseudo-religious cultural practices that disadvantage and damage girls and young women such as female circumcision. Being motivated by her work and learning more about such methods and their outcomes has been a fascinating part of my journey to sharing solidarity with Muslim women. By working collaboratively, we have both extended our research capacities in realising the potential for interdisciplinary theology/social sciences collaboration that has produced a synergy of credibility and capability that would not have been achievable without the other. All of this has broadened my understanding of the connection between faith, body and identity. Events 1. Challenged by Muslim women as head of physical education (initial teacher training ITT) I am often asked how my work with Muslim women started. As mentioned above, I worked in a teacher training establishment in the early 1990s that decided to deliver Islamic Studies, as one main course option, to attract more ethnic minority students into teaching (Benn, 1996). I was head of physical education at the time with a well-established program for primary generalist trainees. One day, on answering a knock at the office door, a small number of Muslim women had arrived to discuss the difficulties they were experiencing on the physical education course. As head of department I felt responsible, invited them in and my learning and research interest began. At the time, I was unaware of Islamic religious needs and did not realise how uncomfortable the learning process was for these women. I went for help and advice from Islamic studies colleagues and also decided to learn through the experiences of the Muslim women. A four-year PhD journey started there with volunteer Muslim women who would stay with me through my remaining training years and first two years of teaching (Benn, 1998). It would be impossible to do justice to that study and process here but many changes were made to accommodate preference for a single-sex learning environment in physical education, where required, a more comfortable dress code inclusive of hijab where needed, and more private practical spaces. Maintaining commitment to that has been attempted via many strategies with varying degrees of success but in principle, the staff and fellow students are committed to providing an inclusive training environment. On reflection, it was the ongoing commitment of the first Muslim women research participants, to meet me in their homes or schools at regular intervals over a four-year period, and to share so much of their lives that motivated me to continue work in the field. They respected a tutor taking an interest in their needs and trying to find solutions while I respected their openness and contribution to solution-seeking and to my personal understanding of the issues. Some were hijab wearers, others were not, but it was the ‘visible Muslims’ who suffered the most in terms of religious prejudice and discrimination both in training but more so, away from the supportive college network, in schools. Despite publications from the long-term research study and follow-up initiatives to challenge the total exclusion of Muslim women preferring single-sex training from all secondary programs and most primary courses (Benn, 2002; Benn and Dagkas, 2006), there has been little change in a country with an increasing Muslim population. Indeed two cities in England will soon have a majority black and minority ethnic population. In Birmingham, the largest group will be Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. The relative invisibility of role model Muslim women physical education teachers is significant in the messages it sends to young people in schools. In a recent Training and Development Agency funded study of ‘Black and minority ethnic trainees: experiences of physical education initial teacher training’ (PEITT) it would appear little other research exists that addresses the effects of faith on participation. It is not surprising that the small number of Muslims who do enter PEITT find their own ways to: “… negotiate their position … largely through compromise and adjustment on their part, rather than institutional support” (Flintoff, 2008, p. 55). 2. Winning a Leverhulme Research Fellowship Another life-changing moment on my researcher’s journey to understanding ‘embodied faith’ happened when I gained a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for 2008 to study the lives of ‘Women in Oman: education, training and teaching’ (in physical education). This was undertaken predominantly with the student-teachers at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Muscat and graduate physical education teachers from that University working across the regions. Such an opportunity is the more remarkable knowing that Oman was a ‘closed’ society before 1970 with no education system (Riphenburg, 1998). The research involved living in an Islamic, Arabic country for three months, with three further months to write and reflect. Most significantly, I was able to live in the Omani community, close to a former PhD student (now colleague, co-researcher and friend) who lectured in physical education in the university department in Oman. Becoming an honorary member of her, and her husband’s, extended family gave me access to deeper insights in three months than I could have gained in three years without that support. During travels to city, rural, coastal, mountain, desert and exclave communities, my research focused on the lives of Omani people, gender relations, attitudes to bodies, physicality and knowledge of the schooling/university system and physical education. The time I had spent with my co-researcher during her studies over the previous four years and our shared subject interests meant we had come to know each other well and to share some frames of reference. We had built a strong, trusting relationship, which enabled support in facilitating and interpreting the research challenge I faced in Oman. Interestingly, despite knowing my colleague well, I was still shocked when I first arrived in Oman to see her completely veiled since she wore hijab and more informal clothing in the UK. I came to understand the Omani codes of dress and gender interaction patterns and to understand how influential culture was, as well as religion, in a fast changing country that lies between tradition and modernity. That, and other experiences, such as interviewing masked Bedouin women in the entrance to their tent, helped me to recognise the challenges of cross-cultural work with Muslim women. There was one moment when I allowed myself to drift outside of the situation and see the extraordinary improbability of ever being able to share the life experiences of these Bedouin women, albeit through a bi-lingual co-researcher: On reflection the moment captured a sharper sense of difference between researcher and researched than experienced at any other time during that, or any previous research with Muslim women. The power of the insider/outsider partnership had brought me to that moment and through it. Not a static power but dynamic and shifting and at that moment I was in a place I could never have been as a solo researcher with an interesting idea. (Field Journal) Writers such as Shah (2004) warn of the dangers of researching across cultures: The ‘outsider-researcher’ is a social intruder, and there is a serious need to explore its implications for cross-cultural research. (Shah, 2004, p. 564) Shah suggests that all social scientists are intruders to some extent but I became acutely aware of being in a ‘difference-based’ research context in Oman (Bennett, 1998; Barna, 1998). Here, assumptions could not be made, communication and interpretation were a challenge, and the higher risks of failing to do justice to the opportunity remained a constant cause of anxiety. Certainly my long journey with colleagues and British Muslim women had taught me much about understanding across cultural boundaries. But the challenge of Oman was greater because of fears, for example, of misinterpreting verbal and non-verbal cues. I did not speak Arabic or know the coded protocols of Omani culture. I became better at understanding the latter than the former, perhaps because of my long career in physical education and its necessary skills of movement observation and interpretation. Having been through the journey, I am convinced of the need to try to build bridges to understanding. Also, I am convinced that success in the research process depends on the sensitivity with which the researcher approaches the situation, from local to international level. For me, the safety-net for all my work has been collaboration, working alongside Muslim as well as interested non-Muslim researchers and, in the case of Oman, with an insider co-researcher. This type of collaboration brought the greatest mutual outcomes in seeking new knowledge and understanding of the lives of others. In terms of embodied faith, Islam was regarded by the Omani women as influential in their daily lives in terms of values, actions and behaviours. Dress codes were Islamic but also traditionally Omani, with women at SQU wearing black full length abyas with head scarves and men long white dish-dashas. Gender segregated movement around the university was built into the geography of the use of space, for example with different walkways for women, and for joint use, separate entries to lecture rooms, library spaces and even photocopiers. Importantly, there were gender specific sporting facilities at opposite ends of the campus. The power of Omani culture was also influential, for example, in the choice of some women to cover their faces in various ways when moving in public spaces, which they knew was not required Islamically. There were stark differences between city and rural women’s experiences due to differentiated rates of modernisation but a quota system at the university encouraged students from across the regions of Oman. Many city women managed private, public and professional lives, each requiring differences in dress codes and social interaction. So the women embodied both Islamic and Omani cultures, managing their ‘presentation of self’ according to the demands of shifting situations and learned expectations. This emphasises the significance of context, knowing the nuances of situation, which give rise to both similarities and differences in the lived realities and subjectivities of Muslim women. 3. IAPESGW/Oman international study week It is difficult to summarise the effects on those present at the study week hosted by Sultan Qaboos University, Oman under the aegis of the International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women (IAPESGW), held in February 2008. The paper by Benn and Koushkie (2008) tells something of the experiences shared and the collaborative process that ended with a consensus declaration: ‘Accept and Respect’. The aim was to improve participation of Muslim girls and women in physical activity areas. Here, I will simply add some reflections related to my journey to understanding ‘embodied faith’. During the study week, Muslim and non-Muslim, hijab wearing and non-hijab wearing Muslims lived and worked together with a common cause. Personal situations from fourteen countries were shared and diversity of subjectivities related to improving opportunities for Muslim women were recognised. Reflective interviews gathered at the end demonstrate shared understanding of the need to make space for difference. The declaration built on the notion of personal choice in supporting opportunities where there were personal needs and religious preferences related to dress codes and gender organisation. On reflection, we had reached a point where we all recognised that the identities of some hijab-wearing Muslim women in all our countries were inseparably connected to their embodied faith. For those whose religiosity was most deeply connected in this sense, participation without Islamic covering and strictly gender segregated all-female spaces, was simply untenable. Therefore, any declaration seriously intentioned for inclusion had to place emphasis on personal choice, on listening to relatively silent voices and on making spaces for different ways of seeing the world. As Waljee (2008, p. 99) suggests: If we cannot follow, it is because we have not learnt the language of their struggles and successes. The declaration is for all people engaged in the arena of physical activity, in schools, community or elite level participation. It is not the end of a fifteen year journey but a new beginning. It is about reaffirmation of the importance of physical education and sporting chances for all of us. It is for Muslim women and the rest of us, who live alongside Muslim women, in every country of the world. It is about understanding a worldview that may differ from our own and standing in solidarity where we feel able. Simply it is about “Accepting and Respecting” the choices and voices of others. In conclusion, these are just some of the highlights of my journey through which understanding has grown in lived experiences, interactions with influential others and opportunities to see, listen, absorb, reflect and contribute to a social justice agenda. Any dialogue that crosses diversity of cultural and national boundaries requires abilities to see the world as others see it and I have been able to do this with the help of people, lives and experiences encountered. I agree with Waljee (2008, p.87) when she strongly criticises international gender work that uses restricted models of gender analysis such as access, outcomes and performance factors, imposing judgements from ‘outside’, whilst they “… fail to address, or find wanting, cultural and religious specificity and economic realities of nations in transition, or different cultural norms that frame gender relations.” The voices of others continue to make my personal journey worthwhile. The following comments are from some of the women I have been fortunate enough to work alongside, taken from final interviews conducted at the IAPESGW/Oman 2008 study week. I leave the reader with these because they provide evidence of personal journeys of others, the power of collective agency and shared visions for greater social justice: The outcomes of the Oman (2008) study week were a great achievement for female athletes in my country. Until that time it was impossible for me to believe that there were any non-Muslim people in the world who would want to understand Muslims, think about their problems and do something for and with them. Now I am glad to know that humanity is alive in the world and we can find humans who do not only think about and for themselves. Until that time, I felt Muslim women were alone and it was impossible for their voices to reach people governing sports. But, now I am optimistic and hopeful about the future of Muslim women sport. Maryam Koushkie, Iran Now I have become more flexible with this question – especially with religion … I have seen another side of this question – there is another way through which I can see … and I am glad that has opened in my mind … the result of our work – especially the expression – ‘Accept and Respect’ is so important … for all of us, not only for others – for us personally – some change has happened for many of us – I can see that and I am pleased for that.” Nour Al Houda Karfoul Syria (President Sport Association of Arab Women) I am freer than some women, and I think about Muslim women (I am not a religious woman), here - these women they are fighting for something with their religious beliefs. This is really different for me. It’s very usable for me in my country (Eastern and Western values and in the middle of all this at the moment), especially for covered women. It has developed my vision, I feel more open to different cultures. Ilknur Hacisoftaoglu, Turkey This reflective journey has led to an understanding of embodied faith, not from the inside but from a position by-the-side-of those for whom religious conviction as an embodied experience prioritises their chosen identity as religious. The concept offers a way to share understanding of ways in which this impacts on engagement in physicality and therefore is particularly important to all interested in inclusive practice in the field of physical education, health and sporting provision. Bader (June, 2008) writes of the positive news that Saudi horsewoman Arwa Matbakani became the first woman appointed to a Saudi Sports Federation when, in April, 2008 she was made a member of the Saudi Equestrian Federation Board. (It is reported that she spends much of her time living in Rome to develop her sporting capability.) BASS Project 2008 was a commissioned empirical study underpinning schools’ guidance for the City of Birmingham, England, schools: “Improving participation of Muslim girls in physical education and school sport: Shared practical guidance from Birmingham schools 2009” available free at www.afpe.org.uk. The research process is currently being written in a number of papers for 2009 publication (eg Benn, Dagkas and Jawad (In Press)). References Al-Gazaf, W. (2007). A successful championship in Bahrain GCC, in Women & Sport, Quarterly Magazine issued by Sport Association of Arab Women, No 12, July 2007, pp 10 – 11. Allen, C. and Nielsen, J.S. (2002). Summary Report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Department of Theology, University of Birmingham, England. Ahmed, L. (1992). Women and gender in Islam, London: Yale University Press. Bader, M. (2008). 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In (Eds) Hartmann-Tews, I. and Pfister, G. Sport and Women: Social Issues in International Perspective, London: Routledge pp 207 – 223. Radzi, W. (2006). Muslim women and sports in the Malay world: the crossroads of modernity and faith. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. Riphenburg, C. (1998). Changing Gender Relations and the Development process in Oman, in Haddad, Y.Y. & Espisito, J.L., Islam, Gender and Social Change. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Pp 144 – 169. Sfeir, L. (1985). The status of Muslim women in sport: conflict between cultural tradition and modernization, in International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Vol 30, pp 283 – 306. Shah (2004). The researcher/interviewer in intercultural context: a social intruder! In British Educational Research Journal, Vol 30; 4, pp 549 – 575. Shilling, C. (2008). Changing Bodie: Habit, crisis and creativity. London, Sage. Sparkes, A. (2002). Telling tales in sport and physical activity: a qualitative journey. Leeds, Human Kinetics. Stone, R. (2004). Islamophobia, issues, challenges and action. A report by the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Books. Wadud, A. (2006). Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam. Oxford: One World. Waljee, A. (2008). Researching transitions: gendered education, marketisation and Islam in Tajikistan , in Fennell, S., & Arnot, M. (Eds) Gender Education and Equality in a Global Context, London: Routledge, pp 87 – 101. Zebiri, K. (2008). British Muslim converts: choosing alternative lives, Oxford, Oneworld. Contact Dr. Tansin Benn Associate Professor School of Education, University of Birmingham Birmingha, UK Email: t.c.benn@bham.ac.uk http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 Muslim Women in Sport: A Researcher’s Journey to understanding ‘Embodied Faith’ Tansin Benn