“The events of 9/11 made my topic of PhD research kind of inevitable in a way, because the political context had such a strong and pervasive influence on the lives of Muslims in North America.”
As a researcher under the ‘Society’ aspect of TSAS, Dr. Uzma Jamil represents an important component in the work of the network, with her focus on critical Muslim studies. “Critical Muslim studies goes beyond naming fixed dichotomies to analyze the complexity of the encounter between Muslim minorities and non-Muslim majorities.” Through a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Toronto, Canada has been the site of her research, with a focus on power relations and identity negotiation among Muslims in the global socio-political context of the war on terror. Her most recent publication addresses how fear and suspicion, which are associated with securitization, shape the lives of South Asian Muslim communities in post-9/11 Montreal, Canada. However, she has recently crossed borders and oceans to take a position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia (UniSA). Her shift to UniSA was due to her interest in the Centre’s focus on critical Muslim studies as a way of conceptualizing the relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim communities globally. “It connects well with my research with Muslim communities in Montreal and Toronto and how they are situated as a minority group within the dual layers of Quebecois and Canadian minority-majority relations.” Over the next three years, Jamil will be writing a monograph on her research, undertaking a research project, and collaborating with her colleagues on research activities through the Centre. She is also co-organizing a symposium on securitization for later in 2013, which will focus on cross-national perspectives from the UK, Australia and Canada.
Why Canada is different
Even though Uzma’s academic background is in political science and international relations, she came to her current field of sociology because she is mostly interested in the social impact of political events. “The events of 9/11 made my topic of PhD research kind of inevitable in a way, because the political context had such a strong and pervasive influence on the lives of Muslims in North America.” She explains that while there has been a lot of discussion of the impact of the war on terror in the US, because the US is directly involved in it, the Canadian context is different and Muslims in Canada are affected in more indirect ways. For example, in the conversations and interactions they have with colleagues at work, in the everyday ways in which they are treated as racialized ‘Others’, in how they raise their children and what they tell them to counter the negative perceptions of Muslims that they are confronted with in school. These interactions and conversations are ordinary in some ways, but collectively, they are all part of the social impact of the war on terror in Canadian society.
Within the TSAS network, Jamil’s interest is in the impact of securitization on Muslim communities in Canada and also more generally how securitization affects minority-majority relations between immigrant and host society groups in Canadian society. She defines securitization as how some communities are framed in such a way that their association with threat, violence and terrorism is considered to be inherent, or pre-determined. “Muslim communities are singled out more often, either because they are supposed to be the threat, to deny the threat, to explain the threat, or to apologize for the threat. In effect, they are always associated with violence and threat and held responsible for it, in one form or another. My critique is to shift the frame out of these available, fixed positions in order to create a more inclusive space and conversation.”
For Jamil, TSAS has the potential to create an inclusive conversation because it brings together people who normally don’t interact with each other as they go about doing their work, whether in government circles or in academia. “The combination of terrorism, security and society, as sites of study in and of themselves, but also as entry points into a broader conversation, is very interesting and exciting. “
Making research policy relevant
One of TSAS’ major goals is to impact policy, and Jamil notes that the challenge may be to actually bridge the gap between policy and academia. She acknowledges that the impact of academic research on policy is contested, but insists that having critical voices in the circle allows for different perspectives – which is vital if policy is to reflect Canadian society as a whole. “Through my work, I can offer a meta-analysis of how policy affects Muslim communities in the long-term, beyond just one case or issue, and to offer a critical lens for conceptualizing securitization.” Now that Jamil works outside of Canada, she sees an opportunity to contribute more on how Canadian experiences fit into the global context.
To reach and engage the public outside of academia as a researcher is something Jamil is interested in developing more while she is at the Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding. “I have more time and intellectual space to think in non-traditional ways about my work.”
While TSAS is still a fresh initiative, Jamil sees the benefits of being part of the network already. “I have really enjoyed the conversations and connections I’ve developed with colleagues through the TSAS network, and I look forward to more in the future.”
References:
Uzma Jamil and Cécile Rousseau.2012. “Subject Positioning, Fear and Insecurity in South Asian Muslim Communities in the War on Terror Context” Canadian Review of Sociology, 49(4): 370-388.