Degree Overview

A new, exciting and challenging Masters degree in Islam, Gender and Sexuality is offered jointly between the Department for the Study of Religions and the Department for African Feminist Studies at the University of Cape Town.

To study how religion, and Islam in particular, shapes everyday beliefs and practices about gender difference, this specialised two-year Master’s programme focuses on the links between Islamic thought, gender and sexuality. The programme focuses on both theoretical and practical gender-based reform and transformation in religious spaces. Students in the programme have the opportunity to draw relevance between current realities and historical thought, in ways that respond to the concerns of contemporary young Muslims.

The programme encourages critical engagement at the intersections of religious authority, community building and Muslim ethics. Students develop critical thinking for transformational engagement in local communities towards new moral and ethical visions. The programme focuses on developing a new cohort of thought leaders in the area of Islam, gender and social justice

Outcomes

As an academic space for creative and critical thinking and reflection on the gendered nature and practice of religious traditions, students graduating from the programme will have competencies in:

• identifying the critical gender, social and cultural issues facing religious and faith communities within the local and global contexts
• conducting theoretically sound, empirical, and non-empirical research in the fields of Islam, gender and sexuality
• bringing their individual and communal history and experiences to bear on gendered issues
• researching equality in the Muslim family, reproductive and sexual ethics, ethical parenting, gender-based violence and spiritual grooming, as well as online, digital and media challenges faced by Muslims
• imagining new Muslim futures

Degree Structure

This is a full time in-person two-year degree that begins in February, every alternate year starting 2023. In the first year students take two core modules, an elective and a research module. In the second year students take a second research module, presented in 3-4 blocks, as they complete their mini-dissertation (25,000 words) by October of the second year.

Degree Requirements

The MPhil is open to students who hold an Honours degree in Religious Studies, Theology, Gender Studies, African Feminist Studies, Islamic Studies, or related fields and a demonstrated focus on gender with an average pass at 68%. Students must demonstrate:

• a commitment to scholarly excellence
• a commitment to gender analysis
• a commitment to critical engagement with religion
• a high level of academic competence, in reading research and writing, and
• personal motivation

Candidates are required to submit a CV, letter of motivation and a sample of academic writing. The motivation letter must be no less than 1000 words and display knowledge and interest in issues of gender, religion, and sexuality.

For more information, please contact the Programme Convenors:

Professor Sa’diyya Shaikh (Dept for the Study of Religions)
Associate Professor Fatima Seedat (Dept of African Feminist Studies)