Reconsidering Limited Representations of Islam and Muslims

Guidance through Métissage and Learning from Lived Experiences

Authors

  • Zahra Kasamali University of Alberta Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v34i2.29231

Keywords:

Islam, Muslims, Shi’a Ismaili, interconnectivity, ethical relationality, métissage, “single-story”

Abstract

The spirit and intent of this reflection is to open up the ways in which the “single storying” of Islam and Muslims limits more ethical forms of relationality. This reflective piece seeks to make evident the ways in which limited representations of particular faith traditions produces feelings of isolation, exclusion and a sense of disconnect from others. Drawing upon métissage principles, this reflection will elucidate lived experiences on their own terms. Métissage as a research sensibility and political praxis can validate ways of knowing and being that are often denied.

References

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Chambers, Cynthia, Erika Hasbe-Ludt and Carl Leggo. 2012. Life Writing and Literary Métissage As an Ethos of Our Times. New York: Peter Lang.

Chambers, Cynthia, Erika Hase-Ludt, Dwayne Donald, Wanda Hurren, Carl Leggo and Antoinette Oberg. 2008. “Métissage: A Research Praxis.” In Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues, edited by J.G. Knowles, 142–155. Los Angeles: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452226545.n12

Chittick, William C. 1983. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany: State University of New York Press.

———. 1989. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabi’s metaphysics of imagination. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Donald, Dwayne. 2009. The Pedagogy of the Fort: Curriculum, Aboriginal-Canadian Relations, and Indigenous Métissage. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Edmonton, University of Alberta.

———. 2012a. “Indigenous Métissage: A Decolonizing Research Sensibility.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (25): 533–555. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2011.554449

———. 2012b. Conversations about Wisdom and Place. Edmonton: University of Alberta.

Jardine, David. 2012. Pedagogy Left in Peace: Cultivating Free Spaces in Teaching and Learning. London: Continuum.

Smith, Huston. 2003. The Way Things Are: A Conversation with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life. Berkeley: University of California Press

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Published

2015-12-14

Issue

Section

Reflections from the Field

How to Cite

Kasamali, Z. (2015). Reconsidering Limited Representations of Islam and Muslims: Guidance through Métissage and Learning from Lived Experiences. Religious Studies and Theology, 34(2), 235-240. https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v34i2.29231