Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

According to Ali and Bagheri (2009), the number of Muslim college students is increasing at the same time as misunderstandings about Islam proliferate. It is important to develop a deeper understanding of experiences of female Muslims and of social identity construction of non-dominant religious populations in universities. I examined female Muslim students’ perceptions of the prevailing stereotypes about them in US universities, as well as their reactions toward those stereotypes. I was curious about whether female Muslim students accept or resist the dominant culture’s narrative of their lives and identities. This research is feminist research because it is critical of social arrangements and power relationships. Anderson (1991) stated that when individuals bind together through shared history and collective characteristics, they often form an imagined community. He called nationality imagined not because it is not real, but rather because it has been socially constructed through significant commitment and attachment to the community itself.