Dr. Juliane Hammer

Juliane Hammer is associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She specializes in the study of gender and sexuality in Muslim societies and communities, race and gender in US Muslim communities, as well as contemporary Muslim thought, activism and practice, and Sufism. She is the author of several books including Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence (2019); American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer (2012), and Palestinians Born in Exile: Diaspora and the Search for a Homeland (2005). She is also the co-editor of A Jihad for Justice: The Work and Life of Amina Wadud (with K. Ali and L. Silvers, 2012); the Cambridge Companion to American Islam (with O. Safi, 2013), and Muslim Women and Gender Justice: Concepts, Sources, and Histories (with D. El Omari and M. Khorchide, 2020).

Supported Project:

Dr. Juliane Hammer, “HEART Women and Girls: Addressing and Preventing Sexual Abuse in US Muslim Communities”

This participatory and collaborative project focuses on an American Muslim organization, HEART Women and Girls. HEART, led by five Muslim women of color, works to promote sexual health education and sexual violence prevention programming through health education, advocacy, research, and training. HEART’s efforts against sexual abuse combined with an explicit commitment to both Muslim religious frameworks and feminist analysis are aligned with my own and I serve on the scholarly advisory board of the organization. 

I am working with HEART on a community building project that grew out of HEART trainings in Los Angeles and focuses on building an intentional community of advocates to continue their advocacy work against sexual abuse. This project also focuses on Muslim sex education and provides religious and communal support systems to collectively nourish and maintain the community’s spiritual, mental, and physical health. The project findings will extend beyond a deeper understanding of sexual abuse in US Muslim contexts to explore the complex dynamics of religious advocacy efforts, the significance of collective self-care, the challenges of maintaining efforts against sexual abuse, the experiences of rejection and resistance in advocacy work, all in the face of increasing levels of anti-Muslim hostility.