A Pilot Assessment of How Muslim Scientists Perceive Inclusion in the Scientific Workplace
In: Sociology of IslamJauhara.Ferguson@rice.edu
Search for other papers by Jauhara Ferguson in
Current site
Google Scholar
ehe@rice.edu
Search for other papers by Elaine Howard Ecklund in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Much of the social science literature on how religious and scientific communities relate to one another is focused on the relationship Christian communities have to science in the US and to a lesser extent the UK. Our pilot research begins to address this gap by studying Muslim scientists, a key group of actors who are important to understanding the social implications of global discussions about religion and science. We ask: How do Muslim scientists in non-Muslim majority national contexts perceive the relationship between religion and science and the connection between their faith and their work? In this pilot study, we analyze 13 in-depth interviews with Muslim scientists from three non-Muslim majority national contexts—France, India, and the United Kingdom. We find that Muslim scientists in our sample generally view their faith as compatible with their identities as scientists. Despite this connection, Muslim scientists do not consider the scientific workplace to be a supportive environment for their faith expression and believe the visibility of Muslim identity creates the potential for religious discrimination in science. Initial findings contribute to our understanding of how national context shapes religious experiences and highlights potential challenges to facilitating more religiously plural workplace environments.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Alumkal, Antony. (2016). Paranoid Science: The Christian Right’s War on Reality. New York: New York University Press.
-
Cacciatore, Michael. A. et al. (2018). Opposing ends of the spectrum: Exploring trust in scientific and religious authorities. Public Understanding of Science, 27(1): 11–28.
-
Chan, Esther. (2018). Are the religious suspicious of science? Investigating religiosity, religious context, and orientations towards science. Public Understanding of Science, 27(8): 967–84.
-
Dallal, Ahmad. (1999). Science, medicine and technology. In , John Esposito (editor.), The Oxford History of Islam, pp. 155–213. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Dimitri, Almeida. (2017). Exclusionary secularism: The Front national and the reinvention of laïcité. Modern & Contemporary France, 25(3): 249–263.
-
Doolin, Bill. and Motion, Judy. (2010). Christian lay understandings of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Public Understanding of Science, 19(6): 669–685.
-
Ecklund, Elaine Howard, David R. Johnson, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Kirstin R. W. Matthews, Steven W. Lewis, Robert A. Thomson, Jr. and Di Di. (2019). Secularity and science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think about Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Ellison, Christopher. G. and Bartkowski, John. P. (2002). Conservative Protestantism and the division of household labor among married couples. Journal of Family Issues, 23(8): 950–985.
-
Evans, John H., and Michael S. Evans. (2008). Religion and science: Beyond the epistemological conflict narrative. Annual Review of Sociology, 34:87–105.
-
Everhart, Donald and Salman Hameed. (2013). Muslims and evolution: A study of Pakistani physicians in the United States. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 6(2): 1–8.
-
Galonnier, Juliette. (2015). The racialization of Muslims in France and the United States: Some insights from White converts to Islam. Social Compass, 62(4):570–83.
-
Gohain, Hiren. (2002). On saffronization of education. Economic & Political Weekly, 36(46): 4597–4599.
-
Hameed, Salman. (2008). Bracing for Islamic creationism. Science, 322(5908): 1637.
-
Hameed, Salman. (2011). Muslims must be free to debate issues such as evolution without fear. The Guardian, Available From: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/09/muslims-free-debate-evolution-without-fear [Accessed 18 August 2020].
-
Hameed, Salman. (2015). Making Sense of Islamic creationism in Europe. Public Understanding of Science, 24(4): 388–399.
-
Huff, Toby E. (2003). The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Jones, Stephen H., Rebecca Catto, Tom Kaden, and Fern Elsdon-Baker. (2019). ‘That’s how Muslims are required to view the world’: Race, culture, and belief in non-Muslims’ descriptions of Islam and science. The Sociological Review, 67(1): 161–77.
-
Kastoryano, Riva. (2004). Religion and incorporation: Islam in France and Germany. The International Migration Review, 38(3):1234–55.
-
Lapidus, Ira. (2014). A History of Islamic Societies (third edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Lewis, Valerie A., and Ridhi Kashyap. (2013). Are Muslims a distinctive minority? An empirical analysis of religiosity, social attitudes, and Islam. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 52(3): 617–26.
-
Parvez, Fareen. (2017). Politicizing Islam: The Islamic revival in France and India. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Pew Research Center. (2013). Religion, science, and popular culture. Available From: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-science-and-popular-culture/ [Accessed March 1, 2019].
-
Pew Research Center. (2017). Why Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group. Available From: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/ [Accessed January 14, 2019].
-
Roy, Olivier. (2004). Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. New York City: Columbia University Press.
-
Sabra, Abdelhamid I. (1987). The appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science in medieval Islam. History of Science, 25: 223–43.
-
Sabra, Abdelhamid I. (1996). Situating Arabic science: Locality versus essence. Isis, 87(4): 654–70.
-
Shabana, A. (2020). Science and scientific production in the Middle East. Sociology of Islam, 8(2): 151–158.
-
Vaidyanathan, Brandon, David R. Johnson, Pamela J. Prickett, and Elaine Howard Ecklund. (2016). Rejecting the conflict narrative: American Jewish and Muslim views on science and religion. Social Compass, 63(4): 478–96.
-
Yalçinkaya, M. Alper. (2011). Science as an ally of religion: A Muslim appropriation of ‘the conflict thesis.’ The British Journal for the History of Science, 44(2): 161–81.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 699 | 65 | 3 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 70 | 10 | 1 |
A Pilot Assessment of How Muslim Scientists Perceive Inclusion in the Scientific Workplace
In: Sociology of IslamJauhara.Ferguson@rice.edu
Search for other papers by Jauhara Ferguson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
ehe@rice.edu
Search for other papers by Elaine Howard Ecklund in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Much of the social science literature on how religious and scientific communities relate to one another is focused on the relationship Christian communities have to science in the US and to a lesser extent the UK. Our pilot research begins to address this gap by studying Muslim scientists, a key group of actors who are important to understanding the social implications of global discussions about religion and science. We ask: How do Muslim scientists in non-Muslim majority national contexts perceive the relationship between religion and science and the connection between their faith and their work? In this pilot study, we analyze 13 in-depth interviews with Muslim scientists from three non-Muslim majority national contexts—France, India, and the United Kingdom. We find that Muslim scientists in our sample generally view their faith as compatible with their identities as scientists. Despite this connection, Muslim scientists do not consider the scientific workplace to be a supportive environment for their faith expression and believe the visibility of Muslim identity creates the potential for religious discrimination in science. Initial findings contribute to our understanding of how national context shapes religious experiences and highlights potential challenges to facilitating more religiously plural workplace environments.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 699 | 65 | 3 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 70 | 10 | 1 |