Whose Jihad? Oral history of an American Muslim educational leader and U.S. public schools

ABSTRACT

While case studies have documented how teachers can either ameliorate or exacerbate situations of ignorance or hate in the classroom toward Muslim students, the role of educational leaders in U.S. public schools remains negligible. In response, this paper aims to develop the knowledge base of educational leadership as it pertains to the jihad or struggle of Muslim students to deal with Islamophobia and to provide insights for productive leadership which deconstruct stereotypes toward anti-Islamophobia. Because postcolonial theory, as espoused in Edward Said’s work, emphasises creating spaces for subjects to speak for themselves, we highlight an oral history account of a Muslim female immigrant’s experiences as a student and teacher in U.S. public schools, and as an activist educational leader in a U.S. Islamic School. The narrative is broadly applicable – as Islam and Muslims have been painted with a pejorative broad brush due to global sociopolitical incidences.

KEYWORDS:

• American Muslim
• educational leadership
• Islamophobia
• oral history
• social justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.