"Blood, Sweat, Tears:" A Muslim Woman Law Professor's View on Degenerative Racism, Misogyny, and (Internal) Islamophobia from Preeclampsia and Presumed Incompetent to Pandemic Tenure

Authors

Nadia B. Ahmad, Barry University School of LawFollow

Keywords

Pandemic Teaching, Academic Parenting, Law Schools, Law Teaching Muslim Woman, Hijab, Law Professor, Critical Race Theory

Abstract

From classical literature, popular press, law, everyday conversations, and social media rampages, society scrutinizes visible Muslim women even though they are a part of a vast global population. From E.M. Forrester’s A Passage to India—the Orientalist summer reading I endured in high school—to the incessant online attacks on U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the hatred has no end and no bounds. Visible Muslim women are accustomed to erasure and censure for simply existing. In France, legislators sought to expel visible Muslim women under the age of eighteen from the public space. Women’s rights have been used as a pretext to invade Muslim-majority nations. This paper examines the perspective for deep thought and the impetus for change that the pandemic parenting experience offered me. Being around my children and at their beck and call 24/7 allowed me to see the world more through their eyes. The subtle bigotry and insensitivities that I experienced pre-pandemic intensified because not only did I want to survive, I wanted my children to grow up in a world free from hate. Sitting around and ignoring the slights would be impossible. Free from daily microaggressions, constant commuting, and code-switching, but saddled with intensive childcare, cooking, cleaning, and sanitizing responsibilities, I developed a keener awareness for the degenerative biases I faced in the periphery of my pre-pandemic life. Being a pandemic academic parent empowered me to confront systemic racism, misogyny, and (internal) Islamophobia. My only goal was to stay alive, be authentic, and stop self-censuring. If it all went to hell in a handbasket, so be it. I survived 2020. Over 1.81 million people did not survive the coronavirus in 2020. This is my journey from a shy little girl in Central Florida to motherhood and the faculty tenure vote put into perspective by the pandemic.

Recommended Citation

Nadia B. Ahmad, "Blood, Sweat, Tears:" A Muslim Woman Law Professor's View on Degenerative Racism, Misogyny, and (Internal) Islamophobia from Preeclampsia and Presumed Incompetent to Pandemic Tenure, 16 FIU L. Rev. 13 (2021), https://doi.org/10.25148/lawrev.16.1.6.