UIS Speaker Series explores #MeToo in Muslim America

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series will explore why the experiences of Muslim women within the #MeToo movement are critical to realizing the movement’s vision of empathy, support and change.

WHEN: 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Associate Professor of Philosophy Saba Fatima, Ph.D., will discuss the unique and specific challenges facing Muslim American women within the #MeToo movement through an intersectional lens.

Her research investigates how religious justifications can hinder the progress of #MeToo at the expense of Muslim women, including justifications that appeal to the establishment of an ideal society, the segregation of sexes and unity within the Muslim unmah (nation).

Fatima also considers how the #MeToo movement is hijacked and co-opted within a Western political context toward a neoliberal agenda in ways that ultimately harm women in communities of color.

This event is cosponsored by the New Voices in Racial Justice Series, the UIS Diversity Center, Women’s Center and the Department of Philosophy.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217-206-6245 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance. For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/.