Faith, Religion & Belief
Kimberlé Crenshaw, American civil rights scholar, developed the term Intersectionality in 1989. It is a framework that explains how a person’s overlapping social identities – such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability – can combine to create unique experiences of discrimination or privilege. She introduced the concept to illustrate how the experiences of Black women were frequently overlooked in legal and social systems, which treated anti-racism and sexism as separate issues. It challenges the idea that you can isolate these identities, and highlights how multiple forms of discrimination can intersect and compound.
This idea is reflected in Kwame Anthony Appiah’s talk, where he argues that religion cannot be understood in isolation from culture and lived experience. He suggests that religion is embedded within broader social practices, meaning its impact varies depending on context. This aligns with an intersectional perspective, where faith is not a single identity category but something shaped by overlapping factors.
It is important within higher education to support students of all beliefs and perspectives, in line with Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which protects freedom of expression and the right to hold and share ideas without interference. In an educational context, this creates both opportunities and responsibilities: while diverse viewpoints should be welcomed, they must also be navigated carefully within inclusive learning environments.
These considerations are particularly relevant at a time when public discourse around race, religion and identity is increasingly polarised, including debates relating to antisemitism and Islamophobia. Within creative education, there can sometimes be an assumption that students share similar cultural or ethical perspectives. However, intersectional thinking highlights that students’ beliefs are shaped by complex combinations of identity, including faith, race and lived experience, which may differ significantly within the same classroom.
The intersection of faith, gender and race is particularly evident in Huma Jawad’s discussion of Muslim women in sport. Jawad highlights how visibly Muslim women, such as those who wear the hijab, experience multiple layers of scrutiny. Their religious identity is not only visible but often racialised and gendered, leading to stereotypes about oppression or lack of agency. This illustrates how faith can amplify discrimination when combined with other marginalised identities, rather than being the sole source of exclusion.
Similarly, Jovana Reki introduces the concept of epistemic injustice, showing how individuals’ knowledge and experiences can be dismissed due to their religious identity. From an intersectional perspective, this dismissal is often intensified when faith intersects with other factors such as ethnicity or migration status. For example, a student’s perspective may be undervalued not only because of their faith, but because of assumptions linked to race or language.
In my teaching context at UAL, these insights highlight several important considerations. The student body is highly diverse, yet faith is often less explicitly addressed than other aspects of identity. Key considerations relevant to my role and teaching practice include awareness of religious observances, and maybe an awareness of the content of my teaching
References
Appiah, K.A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY (Accessed: 22 May 2026).
Reki, J. (2023) ‘Religious identity and epistemic injustice: An intersectional account’, Hypatia, 38, pp. 779–800.
Jawad, H. (2022) ‘Islam, women and sport: The case of visible Muslim women’, LSE Religion and Global Society Blog. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/ (Accessed: 22 May 2026).