Empowerment and Challenges Related to Identifying as Muslim

Salma Hassan

Salma Hassan is a rising senior (‘22) double majoring in Psychology and Feminist Gender Sexuality Studies (FGSS) with a minor in African American Studies. Salma was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt and currently resides in NYC where she attended high school. She is involved in multiple student organizations including the Middle Eastern Student Union (MESU) where she serves as the president and leader of the group. Salma is interested in working to recognize marginalized, underrepresented, and intersectional communities in society through publishing psychological and emotional research. After receiving her bachelor’s from Wesleyan University, Salma hopes to attend graduate school where she can pursue studying a topic that integrates her passion for psychology and feminism.

Abstract: Muslims living in the U.S often face challenges due to their religious identities and beliefs. Since 9/11, past research has shown that Islamophobia against Muslims in the U.S has increased and that this increase has had negative effects on U.S. Muslims’ emotional wellness, psychological well-being, and their day-to-day lives. However, the Muslim community is still underrepresented in the field of psychological research. In addition, past research has mostly focused on the discrimination the Muslim community faces, without acknowledging how religious identities can be empowering. This study aims to examine the challenges U.S. Muslims face as well as how religious identity can be a source of empowerment. More specifically, in this study, we assess how Muslims in the U.S believe they and their religious in-group are perceived by U.S society, the challenges they face and its emotional effects, how religious practice can play a role in emotional coping, and how community can serve as a support system. Furthermore, our study recognizes that each individual in the community may be impacted by other aspects of their intersectional identities. The study consisted of quantitative and qualitative measures presented to the participants through Qualtrics. The data was collected through Cloud Research, a participant-sourcing platform for online research, with the aim of collecting data among 200 participants who self-identify as Muslim. We expect that participants would report differences in how Muslim women, Muslim men, and genderqueer Muslims are perceived in U.S. society, that religious practice supports emotional coping, and that a sense of community offers psychological support. We hope to contribute through our research to the community of Muslims living in U.S society and through sharing their narratives and experiences to defeat stereotypes and stigmas.

This research was conducted by Salma Hassan and Dr. Rodriguez Mosquera in the Culture and Emotion Lab.

Video:

Salma Hassan (Psychology Department)

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Live Poster Session:
Thursday, July 29th 1:15-2:30pm EDT