Beyond Citizen Khan: Muslim Representation as Political Struggle. Dr Nadya Ali In the recent BBC One documentary ‘Last Whites of the East End’ one participant outlined the reasons for why she would be unhappy if her child came home with a non-white partner. Amy Oakman said, “You see it on Eastenders with the Masoods […] I can’t think of the storyline now but they did bring a white girl
Spreading Confusion, Potentially Inciting Hatred – Trevor Phillips’ Route to ‘Active Integration’ by Professor Gus John Anyone reading the recent ‘Civitas’ publication Race and Faith: The Deafening Silence by Trevor Phillips (with commentaries from David Goodhart and Jon Gower Davies) who knew nothing about Phillips, could be forgiven for assuming that he was a protégé of or speech writer for Donald Trump, or at least a spokesman for
The Problem with the Marrakesh Declaration By Michael Mumisa (Shaykh), Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge In January this year (2016), the “Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities” was launched in Morocco amid much fanfare. It was described as a response to the persecution of religious minorities by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Key among the declaration’s proposals, and as a solution,
Unknown and Untold: The significance of Britains WW1 Muslim Soldiers. By Avaes Mohammad “I think it began when Archie Duke shot an Ostrich because he was Hungry” Private Baldrick (Blackadder Goes Forth) Half way into the centenary commemorations Britain’s desire to honour the events and combatants of WW1 remain increasingly committed. Each notable battle and treaty, act of valour and figure of heroism is visited in fresh light to ensure a
Radovan Karadžić verdict: was justice granted? by Rameez Kaleem Four years ago, I embarked on a journey to Bosnia. The purpose of the trip was to raise awareness about the forgotten genocide in Srebrenica as well as to show support to the families who were still rebuilding their lives almost 17 years post conflict. I spent a month living with a local Bosnian family in a rural village in the Republic
Last week’s exclusive in the Sun newspaper reported how an NHS consultant was suspended after revealing that a female Muslim surgeon had been in breach of theatre safety standards when she refused to remove her blood stained hijab. Was the surgeon violating the code of ethics and professional standards by observing her faith whilst practicing her specialty? Should her colleagues have been afraid of being penalized for breaching equality
British Muslim Comedian Sadia Azmat on not being Malala, Prevent and Radical thinking I discovered stand up comedy at a very early age watching late night comedy specials like Chris Rock Bring The Pain. What I loved was how raw and honest the routines were. Legends like Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle are all a great inspiration. My own style is observational humour and I call it as I
A Historic Perspective on Contemporary British Muslim Fiction by Hannah Kershaw Today’s British media outlets, particularly the tabloids, are saturated with claims that Muslims living in Britain have had a negative influence on society. Immigrant communities from traditionally Muslim regions in Asia and the Middle East has been targeted as potential enemies of ‘the West’, framed in popular discourse as a threat to supposedly intrinsic British values, such as
Breaking the Code – how screenwriters takle writing about the underrepresented By Sabrina Mahfouz Is there a secret code amongst TV writers, signifying which characters at which points in approved stories are allowed to have screen time? I doubt it is as sinister, or as simple, as this. But the reality remains – representation of non-white, non-male, non-Christian, LGBQT and disabled people on UK screens is pretty abysmal. Movements towards something
Muslims, foreignness and the ‘integration’ debate by Dr Sarah Hackett Muslim minority communities have secured a firm position at the centre of political and public discourse in Britain in recent years. These ever-heated deliberations have centred upon, amongst other things, integration, multiculturalism, segregation, exclusion, identity, belonging, discrimination and extremism. Far too often, these debates have been driven by sensationalist and attention-grabbing agendas and headlines. Recently, these have included the
