Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds: Storied Lives of Immigrant Muslim Women

by Parin Dossa

Overview

In Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds, Parin Dossa explores the lives of Canadian Muslim women who share their stories of social marginalization and disenfranchisement in a disabling world. She shows how these women, who are subjected to social erasure in policy and research, define their identities and claim their humanity using the language of everyday life.

Based on narrative ethnography, Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds makes a case for positive acknowledgement of perceived differences of nationality, religion, multiple-abilities, and gendered and race-based identities. It offers a powerful argument for bridging two disparate bodies of work: disability studies and anti-racist feminism. Most significantly, it shows how racialized Muslim women with disabilities are redefining the parameters of their social worlds and developing a distinctively pluralistic understanding of abilities. This ground-breaking work gives presence to the lives of people who are otherwise rendered socially invisible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802095510
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Publication date:	02/14/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Parin Dossa is a professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.

What People are Saying About This

Susan Wendell

'Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds is a must-read for anyone who cares about inequalities of power and their consequences in the lives of individuals. I recommend it very highly for advanced students in the fields of women's studies, disability studies, and rehabilitation. I was impressed by Parin Dossa's scholarship, which offers an informative, sophisticated analysis of the interaction of disability, racialization, and gender in Canada while absorbing the reader in the moving stories of women who experience these things.'

Haideh Moghissi

'Hidden away in their families or in the reports of public service agencies, differently abled Muslim women have been rendered virtually invisible within the burgeoning field addressing women and Islam. Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds provides a space for Muslim women who self-identify with disability to reveal the intricate relationship between experienced-based knowledge, voice, and authority and to break the false homogeneity imposed on Muslims in the post-migration situation.'

Frances Henry

'The marginalization of people whose bodies do not meet the criteria of normalcy occurs within the contexts of race and gender. Parin Dossa's unique and invaluable book uses the personal narratives of racialized women with disabilities to shed light on the triple form of oppression such women face. In Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds the meaningful lives of these women attest to the dignity and strength of the human spirit.'

Editorial Reviews

‘An innovative work that connects antiracist feminism and disability studies… Dossa's work is both powerful and innovative in the way it draws on the voices of minority women who reclaim their identities while simultaneously influencing the mainstream. I recommended it highly for professionals and students alike in both fields.’

Andrew Wong; Signs: vol 36:04:2011