CCMW Muslim Women Scholars Series: October Edition
Examining the Uses of Therapeutic Apologies for Addressing the Emotional Injuries of Young Muslim Women
Presenter: Arij Elmi
Abstract: In the ten years that followed 9/11, research on Muslim Mental Health grew by 900% (Amer & Bagasra, 2013). My talk engages with the question of what is meant by the amalgamation of Muslim + Mental + Health. Focusing on therapeutic apologies (i.e., letters of apologies written from the perspective of a parent by an individual) shared by young Muslim women in Ontario and Quebec, I examine the ways that Muslimness both changes and is changed by our current therapeutic turn (i.e., the increasing dominance of understanding the self and others through psychotherapeutic language). I'll share how Muslim identity works as a schema that collaborates with, builds upon and challenges common ways of understanding the self in our present moment.
Register here.
About Arij Elmi
Arij Elmi is a social worker and PhD candidate in Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She has an appointment in the School of Social Work at McMaster University. Arij received her bachelor and master of Social Work from the University of Windsor. She went on to work as a women's self-defence instructor with Wen-Do Women's Self-Defense and served as a research associate with the Sexual Assault Resistance Education (SARE) Centre.
Her clinical work focused on crisis mental health and child/family counseling. Arij has training in Emotion Focused Therapy and Emotion Focused Family Therapy. Her research and writing is informed by a decolonial Black feminist approach and has so far focused on Islamophobia, and the intersections between race, religion and violence.
About Muslim Women Scholars Series
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) is pleased to present the Muslim Women Scholars Series. One of CCMW's strategic goals is to promote critical thinking among Muslims and non-Muslims to challenge stereotypes and assumptions about Islam, Muslim women and their families. One way of doing this is to feature the work of contemporary Muslim women scholars focusing on diverse topics related to Muslim women.