H(Our) Realities – Episode #7 is out now on Refuge Worldwide!
Does Religion/Faith have a space in Feminism?
Focusing on intersectionality in the last quarter of 2022 brought up the question of the relation between religion and feminism. In this episode, our guest May Zeidani Yufanyi talks with moderator Dr. Lana Sirri about being muslim feminists in Germany – a country that oppresses muslim communities, e.g. with the so called “Neutralitätsgesetz”.
Does religion, often seen as promoting and institutionalzing patriarchy, clash with (intersectional) feminism advocating for women’s and marginalized people’s rights? What do our guests experience as religious feminists of Colour within the white majority society?
Moderation:
Dr. Lana Sirri identifies as an Indigenous Palestinian woman from Israel. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Amsterdam. Her research lies at the intersection of religion, gender, and sexuality, and critically explores Islamic feminist thought. Lana has published articles on the topic of Islamic feminism and Muslim feminist thought. She has also published a book titled “Einführung in den Islamischen Feminismus” (2017, 2020) which introduces Islamic feminism to a non-academic audience of German-speaking activists. As a female scholar-activist of color, she is increasingly immersed in the issues of inclusion and exclusion, and representation. Lana is an Associate Expert of the Center for Intersectional Justice (CIJ) and member and co-founder of the Berlin Muslim Feminists Group and the Black & PoC Academic Network in Germany.
Guest:
May Zeidani Yufanyi is a social scientist. Her work focuses on civil society networks against discrimination and on postcolonial migration societies in Europe, on asylum and migration policies, and on identity formation processes in the context of German migration society. As a POC and migrant with Muslim and Jewish roots in Palestine and Europe, intersectional approaches play a central role in her work. It is particularly important to her to combine academic work on intersections of historically disadvantaged positions with work on the ground with those affected.
She has published works in ZAG, A&K and MIGRAZINE and poems in Mondoweis and the Sammellband HEIMATLOS: Gedichte and is a co-host of the radio shows “Talking Feminisms” and “The VOICES” on Reboot.fm. She is a member of “The VOICE Refugee Forum” since 2007 and the representative of the Berlin Muslim Feminists on the board of neue deutsch organisationen.
She is currently the Diversity Equity and Inclusion officer at Bard College Berlin.
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