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Barker, L 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3146-672X,
2024.
“Why are they so obsessed with us?”: young Muslim women’s perceptions of Prevent in post-16 education.
PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
Research upon Muslim women within the counterterrorism strategy ‘Prevent’ is limited. As a UN Special Rapporteur suggested that ‘there is indeed much to discuss on this topic’ of Muslim women within counterterrorism policy (Serim, 2023, p.1). Within this thesis, I address these limitations by exploring how Muslim women students in the post-16 education sector experience and view Prevent, along with
post-16 educators.
The aims of this research are to 1) Critically explore the gendered impact of Prevent on young Muslim women in further and higher education and 2) Add to existing critical studies on terrorism that discuss the securitisation of racialised people and the expansion of the global war on terror. This thesis produces empirical data about the experiences of young Muslim women and educators in the UK’s post-16 education sector.
I utilise online focus groups and interviews with 20 Muslim women students and six post-16 educators across England. 15 of Muslim women participants were Higher Education students in the East Midlands region of England. There were also five Further Education students from different regions in England. Six educators were interviewed concerning their perceptions of their Prevent Duty. Four were Further Education educators and two were Higher Education educators.
Critical Race Feminism serves as my theoretical framework to inform the participants perceptions of Prevent. I utilise counter storytelling as a method within the focus groups and interviews. It acts as a tool in exposing intersectional stories from racialised women. The theory highlights how Prevent operates as a racial project and how the strategy serves to further racialise Muslim women.
Drawing upon my findings, I argue that Prevent should be withdrawn from the education sector due to the racialised, gendered and Islamophobic impact it has upon Muslim women students. I demonstrate this through the women’s stories that detailed issues surrounding self-censoring, their responsibilisation and gendered Islamophobia. The educators that I interviewed were also critical of their Prevent Duty, whether it concerned their training or how Prevent is deemed as safeguarding.
This thesis is one study of many to detail the negative impact that Prevent has had upon education, however, Muslim women students specific experiences of Prevent had been overlooked. I add to this literature and argue that young Muslim women have been used as a tool in the UK’s deradicalisation sphere and it is evident within the post-16 education sector.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Barker, L. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID |
| Date: | September 2024 |
| Rights: | The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author. |
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences |
| Record created by: | Laura Borcherds |
| Date Added: | 10 Jun 2025 09:06 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jun 2025 09:06 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53713 |
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