Meet Tausi
Interviewed by Johns Hopkins University students supervised by Dr. Homayra Ziad.
Interviewers: Sylvain Raj, Nafisa Haque, Marcos Hernandez, Sela Marin
About the Interview
Tausi tells us about her experiences as both a healthcare provider and advocate for women’s and children’s health. She speaks about how Islamophobia can manifest interpersonally in the exam room, and the importance of education to combat violence against Muslims.
Tausi brings up major themes of interpersonal and gendered islamophobia as they arise within the context and influence of greater structural islamophobia and misconceptions around Islam. She gives specific examples from her own observations as an educator post 9/11 and a healthcare provider.
Guiding Questions
In what ways can Islamophobia biases seep into interpersonal interactions as a result of greater structural issues and problematic narratives?
Why is education so vital when combating Islamophobia? In what ways can open dialogues be initiated?
“It wasn’t making sense, right. And I was close to work close to my apartment where I was living at the time and so dropped me off. I walked into the apartment with my grocery bags and the first thing I did was turn the TV on. And as soon as I turned it on. I said, OMG, this is what he was talking about and at that point you know the second plane hit the, you know, the World Trade Center. And to me, like you know the rest of the narrative in terms of who’s behind it, how it was done, and it was just so I guess complex to understand, but I remember the immediate feeling like, Oh my god, they’re going to think all Muslims are terrorists. They’re going to think all Muslims are bad people, they’re going to and especially for those many people who don’t fully understand how beautiful the religion of Islam is what it truly means what it truly stands for, which is really all about peace, and that you know within Islam, just like with any other religion or any other society community, you will always have those, you know like us, you know, people who kind of aligned differently. Right, based on what they believe should be done or how it should be done. ”
“[A Muslim woman] she goes to a health care provider here in the US, let’s say she’s pregnant, and maybe she doesn’t speak English, right, and the doctors asking all these questions, and the husband is answering all the questions, even though the doctor tries to engage with the woman. The man is answering all the questions. And so, while the doctor might not say it right there to them that “oh, I think this is wrong, well you know the husband is being abusive.”
It will be a note in their, in their charts , husband was the one answering all the questions, suspicion of, you know, abuse or domestic violence, and that’s not the case.”
“So again, when it comes to how do we achieve personal freedom and justice. I really think it starts from countries, communities, being able to meet the needs of its people, where you will not have inequity, you will not have violence, born out of lack of those resources or lack of being able to live a life that is free of poverty, free of suffering, you know, it creates this violent cycle, and especially among the young people.”