Geographies of Muslim Women and the UK Cultural and Creative Economy

人们普遍认为，文化和创意经济是英国整体经济中增长最快的部门之一。由艺术、媒体、设计和软件等不同的子行业组成，许多报告和研究都关注到英国在定义和衡量文化和创意经济方面的重要性。例如，DCMS《文化白皮书》(2016年3月15日)指出，该部门促进多重价值：内在价值(丰富文化本身的价值)；社会价值(教育和福利)；经济价值(对增长和创造就业的贡献)。虽然已经开展了关于创造性劳动的不平等、在接入和联网、劳动分工、地位和晋升方面的不平等的国际研究，但缺乏对少数信仰群体的作用和经历以及他们在不同次级部门中的参与和领导的问题的分析。此外，尽管对创造性劳动中的性别和阶级进行了大量的经验分析，但这些分析没有详细考虑信仰和宗教在该部门的相互作用和相关性，因此，该研究金将用于制定一个关于少数信仰行为者在创造性劳动中的作用的研究项目。它将特别侧重于穆斯林妇女，她们是最近旨在支持归属感和融合的许多报告和政策倡议的主题。针对他们在快速增长的穆斯林数字媒体和时尚市场中的角色，以及他们在艺术画廊转型中的艺术角色，该项目通过首次关注文化参与的形式，推进了这些话语和辩论。所描述的次级部门提供了一系列代表该部门范围和复杂性的内容，包括进入门槛较低的新兴形式(数字媒体)和进入门槛较高的较传统文化机构(美术馆)；以及那些每天都与活动文化交叉的形式(如时装、美术馆)。最终，该项目将产生一本书(临时标题为‘信仰、创造力、工作：穆斯林妇女与英国文化和创意经济)、两篇期刊文章、展览和发布会，以及一个跨部门的研究和知识交流网络。它将为推动两个核心主题的穆斯林女性制片人提供一个框架：首先，穆斯林女性已经在以重要方式为英国的文化和创意经济做出贡献；其次，由于进入灵活的创造性劳动的独特障碍和在通常由白人男性领导主导的世俗空间中工作的压力，可能仍需要为妇女提供专门的信仰支持。我在奖学金期间的工作将回答以下问题：-创造性生产者如何在他们的工作中以及在更广泛的文化和创意经济中动员社会类别的穆斯林妇女？-穆斯林妇女目前在每个子部门在创造性劳动中扮演着哪些不同的角色和做法？-在每个子部门中，围绕穆斯林妇女进入和晋升的途径有哪些特殊的社会和空间问题？对道路和进步周围的社会和空间问题的分析是否提供了针对信仰的支持？-需要哪些类型的支持，包括政策机制、机构改革和代理人，以追求穆斯林妇女文化和创意部门的多样化？该奖学金对发展我的领导技能将非常重要。它将巩固我在知识交流和公众参与方面的经验，目的是加强必要的技能，以实现对政策的重大和明确影响，并将导致发展新的跨部门网络，使文化和创造性劳动多样化。

It is widely held that the cultural and creative economy is one of the fasted growing sectors of the overall UK economy. Comprising disparate sub-sectors from arts, media, design and software, numerous reports and studies have attended to the importance of the UK in defining and measuring the cultural and creative economy. For instance, the DCMS Culture White Paper (March 2016, 15) identified that the sector contributes to multiple values: Intrinsic (enriching value of culture in and of itself); Social (educational and well-being); and Economic (contribution to growth and job creation). Whileinternational studies have been undertaken on inequalities in creative labour, foregrounding unevenness around access and networking, division of labour, and status and promotion, there has been a lack of analysis on issues surrounding the roles and experiences of minority faith groups, along with their engagement and leadership within distinctive sub-sectors. Further, despite significant empirical analysis of gender and class in creative labour, these have not considered in detail the interplay and relevance of faith and religion in the sector.Accordingly, the Fellowship will be used to develop a research project on the role of minority faith actors in creative labour. It will focus specifically on Muslim women, whom have been the subjects of numerous recent reports and policy initiatives intended to support belonging and integration. Addressing their roles in the fast-growing Muslim marketplace of digital media and fashion, along with artistic roles in the transitioning remits of art galleries, this project advances these discourses and debates by focusing for the first time on forms of cultural engagement. The sub-sectors profiled offer a range that is representative of the scope and complexity of the sector, comprising emerging forms with low barriers to entry (digital media) to more traditional cultural institutions with high barriers to entry (art galleries); and those that intersect everyday to event culture (e.g fashion; art galleries).Ultimately the project will lead to a book (provisionally entitled 'Faith, Creativity, Work: Muslim women and the UK Cultural and Creative Economy) and two journal articles, exhibition and launch event, and a cross-sectoral research and knowledge exchange network. It will provide a framework on Muslim women producers advancing two central themes: first, Muslim women are already contributing to the UK cultural and creative economy in important ways; second, developing faith specific support for women may nevertheless be needed because of distinctive barriers to entry and pressures in working in flexible creative labour, in spaces that are typically secular and dominated by white male leadership.My work during the Fellowship will answer the following questions:- How is the social category 'Muslim women' being mobilised by creative producers within their work and in the wider cultural and creative economy? -What different roles and practices in creative labour are currently being performed by Muslim women in each of the sub-sectors? -What are the particular social and spatial issues surrounding pathways into and advancement for Muslim women in each of the sub-sectors? Does an analysis of social and spatial issues surrounding pathways and advancement present a case for faith specific support? - What kinds of support including policy mechanisms, institutional reforms, and agents are required to pursue diversification of the cultural and creative sector for Muslim women?The Fellowship will be very important for developing my leadership skills. It will consolidate my experience of knowledge exchange and public engagement, with the aim of strengthening the skills necessary to achieve substantial and clear impacts on policy, and will lead to the development of new cross-sectoral network on diversifying cultural and creative labour.