Muslim geographies, positionality, and ways of knowing migration

Abstract

This paper takes positionality as a lens to discuss how being Muslim and conducting research with other Muslims brings this facet of one's positionality to the fore in ways that shaped fieldwork relations and the research process. Specifically, this paper is informed by my fieldwork experience as a Muslim male conducting ethnographic research on migration and labour precarity with, and in the company of, other Muslim migrants across Taiwan. Through developing friendships, joining activities, serendipitous encounters during Salat al-Jumu'ah, weekend visits, and overnights stays, I began to spend more time across a diversity of Muslim spaces as fieldwork progressed. 1 In this sense, being Muslim provided privileged access and shaped my understanding of migrant experiences in ways that were beyond pre-planned fieldwork activities. It also offered an insightful standpoint from which I could better understand the research context and my own social positioning in the field. In thinking with the unplanned ways constant emphasis on such a strong commonality between the researcher and the researched generated valuable insights, this paper argues that 'Muslim geographies' can serve as a productive starting point to further problematise accounts of knowledge, subjectivity, and power in geography.

A manifesto for critical Muslim geographies

“…In the meantime, it is gratifying to note that geographical scholarship in tandem with one or more of the moves advocated above is already discernible, such as Allouache (2023), Najib (2021) and Zaman (2020). My responses to what I consider key from each commentary will also aim to reflect some of the method and potential for Critical Muslim Geographies expressed above.…”

Makkah's hinterworlds: Jeddah, the Indian Ocean Hajj, and Southeast Asia

“…Moreover, beyond writing the Hijaz, and the Western side of Saudi Arabia to diversify empirical case studies, mobilizing critical and decolonial Muslim geographies frames and studies would transform engagements with Islam and Muslims ‘beyond an adjective of diversity across space’ (Allouache, 2023: 386). What happens when ‘an adept, committed, and visible community of Muslim scholars in geography’ bring together the vast corpus of critical geography with traditions of Islamic knowledge and learning?…”