ALOHA
In this week's issue, we feature articles on the growing number of Muslim women engaged in sports and other athletic activities. Our selections highlight some of the great sporting milestones they have achieved and look at the challenges and issues they face in reaching their athletic goals.
Mahalo,
Program Coordinators
Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific
Picture: Mecca Laa Laa wears a 'Burqini' on her first surf lifesaving patrol at North Cronulla Beach in Sydney, Australia on February 4, 2007. |
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Amazing Sportswomen
Sharifah Mazlina: First Asian Woman to Complete Expeditions to both Poles
Sharifah Mazlina is an accomplished explorer and the first Malaysian and Asian woman to reach the North and South Poles. She also set a record for Asian women by successfully crossing Antarctica in a record 22 days. An active sportswoman since her schooldays, she reached the South Pole in 2004 and the North Pole in 2007. She has been invited to become a member of an all-women team that plans an international expedition to Greenland in 2011. Bernice Chauly wrote about her adventures in " Into the Ice" and " Into 90° North".
Sania Mirza: World Class Tennis Player Sania Mirza was brought  up in Hyderabad, India in a religious Muslim family. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father and other family members. She won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. In 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a Women's Tennis Association event, and reached #31 in the world that same year. Mirza received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai in 2008. Robina Muqimyar: Afghan Sprinter  Robina Muqimyar (now Jalali) represented Afghanistan at the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008. She now works as an advocate for equal rights for women and youth in school athletics in Afghanistan.
Yassmin: Fired up to be the First Muslim Female F1 Driver
 Brisbane University student Yassmin Abdel-Magied, 19, has a passion for fast cars, especially Ferraris. She is peculiar and particular - to be the first female Muslim Formula One racing driver. As the Young Queenslander of the Year in 2010, she coaches a soccer team for Muslim girls called "Shinpads and Hijabs". She is a member of the Queensland Design Council, and at age 16 she set up a network for community-minded teens, Youth Without Borders.
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Muslim Women and Sport
Muslim Women in Sport Collection
This link has a collection of
news and articles on Muslim women and sports around the world. Sertaç Sehlikoglu decided to create the blog after she started doing research on the subject and recognized the need for a lacuna or central repository of collected materials about Muslim women's involvement in physical activities.
Salam Rugby Documentary
 Following Iran's relaxation of social rules in male-dominated sports in the 1990s, women began playing rugby. Auckland-based Iranian-born filmmaker Faramarz Beheshti, 51, was so fascinated that he made a documentary about it.
Salam Rugby Synopsis:
"In 2004, the first women rugby class was organized in Tehran. Soon, over 1000 women all over Iran started to learn rugby. Few months later, Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran. Over a 7000 Km journey, we meet some of the women who are trying to learn this new game, despite the Talibanization programs introduced by the new president. Salam rugby, is not only about rugby."
7th Asian Winter Games  The 7th Asian Winter Games was held in two cities, Astan and Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2011. The games took place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6. The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the 7th Winter Asian Games recently saying that "The best athletes of Asia from 27 countries competed for 69 sets of medals which is the record". Kazakhstan won 70 medals total and its women's ice hockey defeated China 4-1 on Thursday to claim the gold. Zarina Tukhtieva scored a goal in the final game victory.
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Online Resources
Centre for Islamic Shi'a Studies The Centre for Islamic Shi'a Studies (CISS) is a research centre that specialises in the Shi'a Muslim faith. It aims to offer a scholarly Shi'a perspective on traditional and contemporary issues that affect Muslims and humanity as a whole. By contextualising the Shi'a tradition and valuing both seminary and wider academic thinking, the CISS endeavors to offer original analysis on a wide range of fields from religious heritage and philosophy to politics and bioethics. Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is building a portal under Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA). This databases include individual articles on Malay World Studies, Malay Proverbs, Pantun and Syair by Malaysian Chinese Baba and Nyonya. This portal will also help to develop ATMA into a world-class hub of Malay World civilization resources by offering global users an easy and fast access to the required materials in digital form.
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Re- thinking Sport: Physical Activity and Healthy Living in British South Asian Muslim Communities
by Robert Snape An increase in the participation rates of British South Asian Muslim communities in sport and physical activity is a high priority in both the sport and health sectors. This paper is based on field research in a Healthy Living Centre in Blackburn, a town with a large South Asian Muslim community. The research suggests that within such communities a mode of delivery grounded in physical activity and personal health is likely to be more successful than one based on sport and competition. Full Article available hereIslam and Women's Sports by Gertrud Pfister Islamic women in sports appears to be a contradiction in terms - at least this is what many people in the West believe. The conviction that women in Islamic countries either cannot, will not, or may not take part in sports (or at least in competitive sports) is partly borne out of the fact that Muslim immigrants, especially women, scarcely take any active part in sports. However, we should be aware that interest and the engagement of Muslim women in sports are increasing. Full article available at here Sport, Physical Education, and Islam:
Muslim Independent Schooling and the
Social Construction of Masculinities by Samaya Farooq and Andrew Parker
This qualitative study of a British Islamic independent school explores the construction of religious masculinities within the lives of a cohort of Muslim adolescent males. Findings highlight how religion provided a central mechanism through which pupils sought to construct and negotiate their masculine selves. In turn, physical education served as an avenue through which respondents could embrace and embody their sense of self and express a series of broader religious ideals. Full article available at here
Girls from Ethnic Minorities:
Sports Participation
by Samaya Farooq and Gerald Griggs
Current research indicates that a significantly large proportion of females from ethnic minorities, particularly those from South Asian communities (e.g. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indians) are failing to participate in physical activity in the UK. Reliable data on participation trends which pertains to women from South Asian communities is scarce. The aim of this study therefore was to make a contribution that will help to shed light upon the real and lived experiences of South Asian females and their engagement with physical activity in the UK. Full article available at here
Sport Pattern and Perceived Constraints of the Muslim Female in Hong Kong
by Chung Pui Ki The purpose of this study was to examine the sport pattern and perceived constraints of the Muslim female in Hong Kong. The quantitative study found that the most common activities among the Muslim female were walking and volleyball. The results were parallel with the quantitative study that access and resource constraints were the major constraints that hinder Muslim female in sport participation. But interestingly, dress code was not a constraint for most of the interviewees.
Full article available here
Young Muslim Women and Sport:
The Impact of Identity Work
by Kristin Walseth
This article focuses on the relationship between young Muslim women's identity work and their involvement in sport and physical activities. The concept of 'identity work' is used to underline the dynamic aspect of identity construction. The study demonstrates how young Muslim women's identity work is influenced by their ethnic and religious collective identities. It also illustrates two major patterns that link young Muslim women's identity work to their involvement in sport and physical activity.
Full article available here
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Employment Opportunities
Featured
Student Assistant
Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific
Last day to apply: 11 February 2011
Academic
Assistant, Associate or Full Professor - Art (Islamic Art)
Hunter College
Start review from: 8 February 2011
Assistant Professor, Religions of East Asia
Western Kentucky University
Last day to apply: 21 February 2011
Assistant Professor, South Asian Studies
University of Utah
Last day to apply: 1 March 2011
Associate or Full Professor Charles Redd Chair, Asian Religious Studies
Utah State University
Last day to apply: 3 March 2011
Two Faculty Positions, Sociology of Religion/ Cultural Sociology and Sociology of Language/ Sociology of Emotions
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Last day to apply: 24 March 2011
Assistant Professor, Islamic or Buddhist or Confucian Religious Thought/Philosophy
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Last day to apply: 1 May 2011
Assistant Professor, South or Southeast Asian History
University of Central Florida
Last day to apply: 8 April 2011
Community
Education Officer
Curriculum Development, Institute of Ismaili Studies
United Kingdom
Last day to apply: 25 February 2011
Curator, Yousef Jameel Curator of Islamic Art Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Last day to apply: 28 February 2011
Corporate Gifts Officer
Islamic Relief USA
Alexandria, Virginia
Last day to apply: 7 March 2011
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Conferences
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics and International Relations Problems. NATO and EU Expansion to the East - Security Problems of Russia, CIS States, Europe and Asia
23 to 24 March, 2011
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Participation deadline: 15 February 2011
European Conference for Academic Disciplines
10 to 15 April 2011
Gottenheim near Freiburg, Germany
Abstract Deadline: 1 March 2011
American Canadian Conference for Academic Disciplines
23 to 26 May 2011
Toronto, Canada
Abstract Deadline: 18 March 2011
4th International Indonesia Forum Conference: 2nd Call for Papers
28 to 29 June 2011
Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia
Abstract Deadline: 31 March 2011
International Conference on Religion and Spiritual in Society
15-17 February 2011
University Center, Chicago, USA
Center for Islamic Studies National Conference
17 to 19 February 2011
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
AAS/ICAS 2011 Honolulu Conference
31 March to 3 April 2011
Honolulu, Hawai'i
11th annual East Asian Studies Graduate Conference
5 March 2011
University of Toronto
Islamic Civilization - Potentials and Challenges
9 to 10 March 2011
Lahore, Pakistan
In the Mix: Asian Popular Music Conference
25 to 26 March 2011
Princeton University
28th Annual Spring Symposium "Media, Culture and Democracy in South Asia"
6 to 8 April 2011
University of Hawaii - Center for South Asian Studies
10th East-West Philosophers' Conference
16 to 24 May 2011
University of Hawaii - East West Center
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