Invisible Islamophobia: Challenges and Opportunities for Muslim Women Adult Learners

This chapter offers a critical commentary on the intersection of Muslim women adult learners, whose multiple marginalities have rendered them an invisible group in relation to institutional and sector priorities regarding student access, success, and progression in UK higher education. Using the methodological framework MusCrit (a micro-theoretical framing of Critical Race Theory which addresses more rigorously the marginalisation of Muslims), the chapter utilises a composite narrative and autoethnography to illustrate both the burgeoning and burdening position of Muslim women adult learners. Applying this mix of theory and reflexivity facilitates intimate insights into the complexities and ‘embodied intersectionality’ of Muslim women adult learners, specifically in the postgraduate research landscape. The chapter exposes the precarious positionings of Muslim women adult learners; the need for intentionally supporting the access, success, and progression of these students; and the systemic nature of oppression which has made invisible our inequalities within the broader widening participation discourse in UK higher education.