This interview embodies perfectly some of the concepts discussed in the previous resource while giving a unique voice to someone affected by the question of faith, minority identity and intersectionality when it comes to identity, religion and beliefs while touching on the theme of discrimination.
Here we get perfectly Modood’s passage in Religion in Britain:
Challenges for Higher Education :
“Perhaps because of this, some pro-diversity advocates are
reluctant to extend multiculturalism to include religious groups. One argument is that ‘woman’, ‘Black’ and ‘gay’ are ascribed, involuntary identities while being, say, a Muslim is about chosen beliefs, and that Muslims therefore need or ought to have less legal protection than the other kinds of identities. Matters, however, are not that simple. The position of Muslims today in countries such as Britain is similar to the other identities of ‘difference’ as Muslims catch up with and engage with the contemporary concept of equality. No one chooses to be or not to be born into a Muslim family. Similarly, no one chooses to be born into a society where to look like a Muslim or to be a Muslim creates suspicion, hostility or failure to get the job you applied for.”
Here we have a student from a British white background who navigates being Muslim but from a European heritage and growing up in a fairly liberal household where a work of deconstruction of the Eurocentric identity happens and which continues to be discussed.
The interview is written with a view of curiosity and voyeurism which is problematic for me, as it exposes the student again as something ” unsual” which do not fit the norm or beauty standard of their surname. Through this particular position the author seems to take the freedom to investigate the student background story with a certain freedom to discuss this matter while knowing that this student comes from a “liberal” background therefore would probably be more willing to share about their identity.
In my view there is clearly a positioning of power from the author or interviewer that makes me unease.
Nevertheless, we discover quickly that this student and their family are also affected by islamophobia with the intersectionality of being white background and being outsiders but also not included in the definition of multiculturalism.
There is also a question of ambiguity which shows the prejudice around race and faith that makes her case interesting for the Author.
Perhaps this question is particularly Anglo-Saxon with its definition of Identity and Race. As French this question is a little bit more blurry and less simple with the post-colonial heritage of Algeria, the Kabyle community and descents in France and particularly in Paris and Marseille but also with the presence of a diaspora from Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. In my eye, growing up in Paris the question of race and being Muslim is not so set or does not correspond to a particular look. As I have been in school with European heritage students who were raised in Muslim-practising families or culturally attached to Islam.
Some of my friends share both a Jewish faith and an Arabic heritage or are Copte, Christian and Arabic heritage and whose families were forced to immigrate to France due to oppression. The question of bi-racial does not apply to them.
Here again, religion is not only seen as a strictly spiritual or religious activity but as a culture memoir of their culture and ancestors.
Both my friends and Saffron share this cultural luggage inherited in which they had little choice, but from which they are perceived as outsiders or minority by both sides, the public scene to which they do not correspond to what is expected to be, or by the group they are associated to. In both cases being Muslim, Christian, Jewish etc cannot be simplified to a race, but to a familial context, to a community, to a question of multi-culture background and heritage.
Perhaps I could criticise this very anglo Saxon view of putting simple labels on diversity and complex identities, simplifying it to just the word “Other”.
One response to “Interview with Saffron Mustafa – Shades of Noir”
Thanks for your insightful comments Alix. I found the article intriguing particularly because I myself am a Muslim convert living in the UK. As ethnically Chinese, my experience is different from Saffron and her family. I think it hinges largely on how much you outwardly manifest your faith, and this is significant for Islam as outward expression of the faith is as important as the inner dimension. As for me, nobody will know I’m a muslim unless I don a hijab, and even then it’ll be a guess. The experience will be different for British Asians especially for young British Asians. The artist Imran Perreta http://www.imranperretta.com speaks to this poignantly.
I agree with you that in the UK, Islamophobia and racism exist intersectionally. This is emblematic when the interviewer asked if Saffron’s parents found it difficult being white and entering into Islam which is predominantly an Asian religion. In the UK, being a muslim to most British people means being Asian (Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani) following the migration mid 20th century. A lot of the anti-islam sentiment is blurred with anti-brown/black sentiment.
I’d like to pick up on your point on the interviewee growing up from a “liberal” family. It got me thinking if a “normal” muslim who “look” like a muslim will be interviewed to understand more what their experience is like in a secular liberal university. That way, it might encourage deeper understanding into the Muslim community and their challenges in the UK. For example, it brings to mind conversations I had with muslim students in my Chelsea about the challenges of wearing hijab at college.