Dr. Muna Saleh is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Concordia University of Edmonton. She is also the author of several academic papers and the book, ‘Stories We Live and Grow By: (Re)Telling Our Experiences as Muslim Mothers and Daughters’.
Dr. Saleh has long been an advocate for social justice. She talks about ‘generational trauma’ - something her family faced when they were displaced by the ‘Nakba’* (or the ‘Catastrophe)’ in Palestine. Muna recalls how her family was forced to flee the ethnic cleansing and move countries as refugees. She reflects on the nature of oppression and harm and how it persists in our curricula and education systems to this date.
Muna looks back on the stigma of being ‘Palestinian’, and the challenges of settler-colonial oppression that erases so many indigenous people- both in Palestine and even in Canada.
As an educator, she also talks about ‘curriculum violence’. She urges teachers to be mindful of the harmful narratives that continue to oppress learners and offers a simple solution for missteps: ‘When you know better, you do better.’
There is more to Dr. Saleh though. She refuses to be ‘pigeon-holed’ into any stereotype, and you can see her fun side on social media as she pokes fun at racist trolls, and sometimes even her sisters!
Tune in to listen to this multifaceted scholar.
Follow her on Twitter: @DrMunaSaleh
*To know more about the ‘Nakba’: https://bit.ly/33KQiML
Also, check out some of Muna’s incredible work:
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Music credit: Oh My - Patrick Patrikios