Hegemonic discourses do more than represent; they construct, discipline, and delimit who can be seen, heard, or imagined. Yet fissures emerge—moments of negotiation, refusal, and reinvention that open new subject positions and conditions of possibility. This panel assembles scholars and practitioners whose work inhabits and expands these spaces, intervening in dominant narratives to forge alternative ways of knowing, being, and belonging.

The presentations unpack how art-based interventions counter Islamophobia in public and digital arenas; interrogate the politics of “safe space” pedagogies in discussions of Palestine; examine nuanced forms of “artful obedience” among Muslim South Asian women navigating cultural conflicts in Canada; and complicate entrenched stereotypes of SWANA subjects that persist in Hollywood casting practices and media representations, offering an active reform agenda. Collectively, these inquiries move beyond analyzing anti-hegemonic cultural praxis to charting the openings they create, tracing emergent subjectivities that unsettle normative scripts, disrupt existing taxonomies, and expand the terrains of possibility.

Session Organizers:

Nadiya Ali, Trent University

Ayesha Mian Akram, University of Calgary

Lucy El-Sherif, McMaster University

Leila Benhadjouja, University of Ottawa

Muna Saleh, Concordia University

Session Chair: Lucy El-Sherif, McMaster University