“There is no conversation about Islamophobia in today’s society without thinking about wider structures of anti-blackness, and how Islamophobia has been built from those…caring for yourself is more connected to different bodies in this moment…” – Small Talk With Dr. Azeezat Johnson

Welcome to Small Talk, a podcast series delivering short, digestible episodes of some of the muslim community’s biggest and most hard hitting questions answered concisely by Muslim women who know their craft.

In this episode, we’re in conversation with Dr Azeezat Johnson a social geographer at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research has focused on the themes of Black Feminism and has looked at, in particular, how Black Muslim women are racialised as Other, to a neutralised white self. Azeezat is the co-editor of ‘The Fire Now’, which sets out to challenge the myth of a ‘post-racial era’ against the backdrop of Trump and Brexit. In her work, Azeezat is also unpacking whiteness as a structure and how these structures affect every day lives, in particular for black Muslim women.

What is whiteness as a structure? What does it mean to exist and resist within them as a black muslim woman? How is Islamophobia and anti-blackness inextricably linked, and what is the effect of structural violence on everyday lives and how can we make a change in big and small ways?

Check Out These Recommended Reads from Dr. Azeezat Johnson:

Recent works by Azeezat:

Johnson, Azeezat (2019). ‘Throwing our bodies against the white background of academia.’ Area. doi.org/10.1111/area.12568
Johnson, Azeezat & Fernandez, Shereen (2019). ‘Where does Shamima Begum exist?’ Ceasefire Magazine.
Johnson, Azeezat, Joseph-Salisbury, Remi & Kamunge, Beth (eds.) (2018). The Fire Now: anti-racist scholarship in times of explicit racial violence, London: Zed Books.
Johnson, Azeezat (2018). ‘Introducing The Fire Now’. Media Diversified.

Azeezat Recommends:

El-Enany, Nadine (2019). ‘Britain as the spoils of empire’. Manchester University Press.
Emejulu, Akwugo & Sobande, Francesca (eds.) (2019). To Exist Is to Resist: Black Feminism in Europe, London: Pluto Press.
Manzoor-Khan, Suhaiymah (2019). Postcolonial Banter, Birmingham: Verve Poetry Press.

You can listen to the episode below and catch our other episodes in our Small Talk playlist over on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts. If you enjoy our episodes, you can support our production here!