Price: $34.95
Page Count: 304
Publication Date: February 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77258-175-1
Interweaving my experiences as a Canadian Muslim woman, mother, (grand)daughter, educator, and scholar throughout this work, I write about living and narratively inquiring (Clandinin and Connelly, Narrative Inquiry; Clandinin) alongside three Muslim mothers and daughters during our daughters’ transition into adolescence. I was interested in mother-and-daughter experiences during this time of life transition because my eldest daughter, Malak, was in the midst of transitioning into adolescence as I embarked upon my doctoral research. I had many wonders about Malak’s experiences, my experiences as a mother, and the experiences of other Muslim daughters and mothers in the midst of similar life transitions. I wondered about how dominant narratives from within and across Muslim and other communities in Canada shape our lives and experiences. For, while we are often storied as victims of various oppressions in media, literature, and elsewhere, little is known about our diverse experiences—par-ticularly the experiences of Muslim mothers and daughters composing our selves and lives alongside one another in familial places.
“This book is a delightful and engaging read that teaches the reader about the narratives that three Canadian Muslim girls and their mothers are living as the girls transition into adolescence. Saleh weaves theoretical perspectives along with the lived experiences of the girls and their mothers to inspire the reader to question the personal, familial, intergenerational, institutional, linguistic, cultural, temporal, faith-based/religious, and social narratives that they live by and live with alongside other human beings. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the ways developing understanding of lived experiences – as a researcher, instructor, teacher educator, teacher, graduate or undergraduate student, social worker or as a human being.”
—Florence Glanfield, PhD, Professor & Chair, Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta
“A fascinating book weaving memories of the remote “homeland” to the daily lives of three mothers and daughters in a Canadian city, a book that made me miss my “Sitti” get sometimes in tears and sometimes have a good laugh. A book that connects mothers to daughters despite the challenges and brings vivid images of motherhood from a different perspective. A book that I would offer to my daughter, use in my class and cite in my research. A book that would resonate with so many Muslim mothers and daughters. A great read.”
—Neila Miled: A Canadian Muslim mother, scholar, educator
Preface
(Experientially) Rooting a Research Puzzle
Chapter 1: Rooting (Autobiographical) Stories to Live By, With, and In
Growing Forward … and Rooting a Narrative Inquiry
Chapter 2: Rooting and Growing (Chosen) Narrative Inquiry Communities
Rooting Stories to Grow By … Together
Chapter 3: A Narrative Account of Living and Growing Alongside Rayyan and Safaa
Chapter 4: A Narrative Account of Living and Growing Alongside Zahra & Ayesha
Chapter 5: A Narrative Account of Living and Growing Alongside Maya & Layla
Growing Forward … and Rooting Resonant Threads
Chapter 6: Composing Our Lives in the Midst of Arrogant Perceptions
Chapter 7: Planting, Living, and Growing Stories of Relational Resistance
Chapter 8: Imaginatively Composing Our Lives … in relation
(Re)Connecting Threads
Chapter 9: (Re)telling Our (Own) Stories
Works Cited
Appendix A
Glossary of Arabic and/or Islamic Terms
Appendix B
Record of Research Conversations Alongside Rayyan and/or Safaa
Appendix C
Record of Research Conversations Alongside Zahra and/or Ayesha
Appendix D
Record of Research Conversations Alongside Layla and/or Maya
Muna Saleh is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton. Drawing upon her experiences as a Canadian Muslim woman, mother (to Malak, Ahmad, and Maya), educator, and researcher, Muna’s doctoral research was a Killam Trusts-funded narrative inquiry into the experiences of Canadian Muslim girls and their mothers. Prior to engaging in graduate studies, she was an elementary and secondary school teacher and leader. Her research interests include multiperspectival narrative inquiry, mothering and motherhood, conceptions of curriculum, familial curriculum-making, and research alongside children and youth with exceptionalities, and their families.
