Saba Fatima  pronounced Subb/a  Fath-ma

I am a Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).

I received my PhD in Philosophy from Social, Political, Ethical, & Legal (SPEL) Philosophy Department at Binghamton University, NY.

Currently, I am settled in Southern Illinois, near St. Louis, MO and love teaching at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

I was also the host of the podcast, She Speaks: Academic Muslimahs

Some of my areas of specialty include:

• Social Epistemology (microaggressions, paranoia as minorities, American Ignorance)

• Social and political theory within prescriptive Islam (jihad, Mahdi, akhlaq, sabr) 

• Muslim/Muslim-American issues within a framework of feminist & race theory (racialization of Muslim American identity, feminist concerns within Muslim communities, #MeToo, politics of hijab)

• Medical humanities (financial aspects of current healthcare system, physician burnout and character)

Contact Information:

Email: sfatima@siue.edu 

"Scars from home: social geography, familial relations, and patriarchy" The Philosophy of Sexual Violence, edited by Georgi Gardiner and Micol Bez, Routledge, forthcoming.

“What does it mean to be an American? American Ignorance and Social Imagination of Citizenship” in Hypatia, 2023:1-19. doi:10.1017/hyp.2023.81

“The Earth King, ignorance and responsibility” in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy: Wisdom from Aang to Zuko, edited by Johan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz, Wiley-Blackwell, 2022 

“Karachi, "First Worlds," And The Spaces in Between” Co-written with Sana Rizvi. In A Love Letter to This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Wilson, Acuff, Kraehe, University of Arizona Press. 2022

“Navigating the #MeToo Terrain in an Islamophobic Environment” Social Philosophy Today, Volume 37, 2021, p. 57–74

“Philosophy, Liberation, and Other Roads Less Travelled: Being Asian in Philosophy,” What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher of Asian Descent?, APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Volume 20, number 1, Fall 2020

“I know what happened to me: The Epistemic Harms of Microaggression” in Microaggression and Philosophy. Edited by Lauren Freeman and Jeanine Weekes Schroer, Routledge, 163-183,  2020

 “On the Road to Losing Ourselves - Religion Based Immigration Tests,” in Ethics, Left and Right: The Moral Issues That Divide Us. edited by Bob Fischer, Oxford University Press,  2019. pg. 216-232.

 “Physician Ethics: How Billing Relates to Patient Care,” Journal of Hospital Ethics, Vol 5 No 3: Systems, Winter 2019

“On the Edge of Knowing: Microaggression and Epistemic Uncertainty as a Woman of Color,” in Surviving Sexism in Academia: Feminist Strategies for Leadership, edited by Kirsti Cole and Holly Hassel, Routledge 2017, p. 147-154

“Contested Terrains of Women of Color and Third World Women,” Co-authored by Kristie Dotson, Ranjoo Seodu Herr, Serene J. Khader and Stella Nyanzi. Musings, Hypatia, Volume 33, Issue 3, Summer 2017, p. 731–742

“Striving for God’s Attention: Gendered Spaces and Piety,” Hypatia, Vol. 31, Issue 3, 2016, p. 605-619

“Can Doctors Maintain Good Character? An Examination of Physician Lives,” J. of Medical Humanities, 2016, p.1-15 

“Liberalism and the Muslim-American Predicament,” Social Theory and Practice, vol. 40, no. 4, 2014, p.591-608

“Muslim-American Scripts” Hypatia, Volume 28, Issue 2, 2013, p.341–359

“Presence of Mind” Social Philosophy Today, Volume 28, 2012, p. 131-146

“Who Counts as a Muslim? Identity, Multiplicity and Politics” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 31, Issue 3, 2011, p. 339-353

“An Examination of the Ethics of Submissiveness,” Journal of Islamic Philosophy, Volume 4, 2008, p. 3–21. 

• Selective Outrage: The Shaming of Palestinian Rights Advocates, Medium, February 7, 2025

• What Guantánamo’s Dark Legacy Teaches Us: Progressives Must Confront Trump — and Obama and Biden, Medium, February 5, 2025

• Selective Feminism, Muslim women, and the Olympics controversy surrounding women’s uniforms, Medium, Jul 28, 2021

• Islamophobia & Middle School Curriculum in the United States, Medium, May 18, 2021

• Never Have I Ever … Been Hungrier For Increasingly Better Representation, Medium, May 17, 2020

• Does It Really Make a Difference to the Global South Who Is In Power? - Philosophers On the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Daily Nous, November 10, 2020 

• Challenges for Women in Online Philosophy: Performativity and Clout, The Blog of the American Philosophical Association (APA), September 23, 2020

• The Case for Teaching (as a means to fight against anti-black racism), The Philosophers' Cocoon, June3rd, 2020

• Guilt Free Mom Travels, SIUE Women's Studies Program Blog, April 19, 2019

• What is it like to be a philosopher?, May 16th, 2019

• Failure, Fitness, and Feminism, Fit Is a Feminist Issue Blog, August 11, 2018

• Exercising During Ramadhan, Fit Is a Feminist Issue Blog, May 30, 2018

• Walk a mile in our shoes ….by learning about our actual experiences, SIUE Women's Studies Program Blog, February 14, 2018 

• Walking the Talk of Inclusivity: Prohibitive Costs of Bioethics & Humanities Conferences, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Blog, October 26, 2017

• The Fragmented Muslim, Daily Nous, November 10, 2016

• On Being Muslim & American, Philosopher, September 10, 2016

• Visibility & Piety, SIUE Women's Studies Program Blog, April 18, 2016

• Being a Shia Muslim Philosopher – Double Consciousness, Resistance, & Spirituality

• Four ways to condemn violence against minorities in Pakistan that are all wrong!, The Express Tribune (Pakistan) May 20, 2015 

• Am I Being Paranoid? Being a Woman of Color in Academia, SIUE Women's Studies Program Blog, April 20, 2015 

• Indignation Without Reflection: Malala and the Western Imagination, SIUE Women's Studies Program Blog, October 12, 2014

• • “Marginalized within the Margins, Modesty, and the Me Too Movement in Muslim American Lives” American Philosophical Association- Eastern Division, New York City, NY, Jan 2019

  • “Let’s Strategize: Exploring Microaggressions in Academia and Finding A Way Forward” Workshop; National Women Studies Association, Atlanta, GA, Nov 2018

  •  “Navigating Politics from the Peripheral: The United States’ Muslim Problem' ; Central American Philosophical Association, Chicago, IL, Mar 2018 

  •  “Democracy After Trump”; Eastern American Philosophical Association, Savanah, GA, Jan 2018

  •  “Patriarchy as Justification for “Uncitizening”: The Case of Muslim Refugees”; National Women Studies Association, Baltimore, MD, Nov 2017

  •  “Experiencing Prejudice: Examining the Muslim American Case”; Prejudice: ​Intersecting Methods and Perspectives, Washington University in St Louis, Nov 2017

  •  “Billing Low Income Uninsured Patients as an Ethical Concern”; Health Humanities Consortium, Houston, Texas, Mar 2017 

  •  “From Where I Stand: Critical Distance in Bioethics as Choice and Circumstance”; American Society for Bioethics & Humanities, Washington DC, Oct 2016

  • “Being Brown in Academia and Epistemic Insecurity”; Central American Philosophical Association, Chicago, IL, Mar 2016 

  •  “Torture and the American Social Imagination,” ; California Roundtable on Philosophy and Race, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH Oct, 2015

  •  “Difficult Conversation Panel: Damage by Allies,”; Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory, Clearwater Beach, FL, Oct 2015

  • “Being Brown in Academia and Epistemic Insecurity,” 32nd International Social Philosophy Conference: Education & Social Justice; North American Society for Social Philosophy, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO, July 2015 

  •  “Women of Color in the Academy and Epistemic Doubt,” Exploring Collaborative Contestations and Diversifying Philosophy ; APA Committee on the Status of Women & Hypatia, Villanova, PA, May 2015

  • “Epistemic Friction and Responsible Knowing: Reflections on José Medina's The Epistemology of Resistance,” Society for Analytic Feminism Session at Central American Philosophical Association, Feb 2015

  •  “Liberating Traditions: Asian Religions and Transnational Feminisms,” ; American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, Nov 2014

  •  “Beauvoir’s Analysis of the Muslim Woman,” ; Diverse Lineages of Existentialism, St. Louis, MO, Jun 2014

  • “Divine Consumption: Sustainability within Halal Food Laws,” 30th International Social Philosophy Conference: Food; North American Society for Social Philosophy, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, Jul 2013

  •  “The Possibility of Character for a Doctor,” Virtue, Vice, and Character; 39th Conference on Value Inquiry, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, Apr 2013

  •  “Experiences in Makkah & Madinah: Gender & Space,”;  Shifting Paradigms: Theology, Philosophy, and Doctrine, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY, Apr 2013

  •  “Muslim Scripts,” Crossing Borders Fall 2011 Conference; Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory, Zion, Illinois, Sep 2011 

  •  “Presence of Mind,” 28th International Social Philosophy Conference: Freedom, Religion and Gender; North American Society for Social Philosophy, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jul, 2011 

  • “Public Reason And Muslim Americans," 27th International Social Philosophy Conference: Poverty, Markets, and Justice; North American Society for Social Philosophy Conference, Ryerson University, Toronto, Jul 2010

• “#MeToo & Muslim Women Unconference” New Horizons in British Islam, London, UK, April 2019

• “Sharam, Haya, and the MeToo Movement in Muslim Communities” De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, April 2019

• “Sharam, Haya, and the MeToo Movement in Muslim Communities” Department of History, Philosophy and Culture and the BAME Action Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK, March 2019.

• “#MeToo in Muslim America” Inspiring TriVia: The Sarah L. Hoagland Speaker Series, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL, March 2019.

• “#MeToo in Muslim America” SLU Women's and Gender Studies Department, St Louis University, St Louis, MO, Jan 2019

• Marginalized within the Margins, Modesty, and the Me Too Movement in Muslim American Lives, American Philosophical Association Eastern, New York City, NY, January 2019

• “#MeToo in the context of Muslim American Lives” Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, Oct 2018

•  “#MeToo in the context of Muslim American Lives” Women Studies Program, SIUE, Oct 2018

•  “Combating Anti-Muslim Oppression,” St. Louis Anti-Racist Collective (ARC), Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), St. Louis, Apr 2017

• “A Conversation on the Muslim American community,” Bethel Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Feb 2017

• “Muslim American Political Disenfranchisement,” A Night of Philosophy and Ideas, Brooklyn Public Library and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Jan 2017

• “The Muslim-American Problem,” University of North Carolina Charlotte, Nov 2016

• “Oppressive Freedoms: hijab, burkini, and bikinis,” SIUE Women Studies Program, Sept 2016

• “ Introduction to Shia Islam” Life Long Learning Programs, SIUE, April 2016

• “Gynecologic Care of Muslim Patients” Mercy Hospital, St. Louis, MO, Dec 2015

• “Embracing our Muslim Neighbors” Center for Spirituality & Sustainability, SIUE, Oct 2015

•  "Conversations about being a minority in academia, MAP (Minorities and Philosophy) Brooklyn College, May 2015

•  “Women of Color in the Academy and Epistemic Doubt,” SIUE Women's Studies Spring Events, Mar 2015

•  “Understanding Race Lingo: Racial Experiences in America,”  SIUE Black Lives Matter Series, SIUE, Mar 2015

•  “Sectarianism in the Middle East,” Lifelong Learning Programs - Great Decisions Series, SIUE, Feb 2015

•  “Islamic awakening,” Lifelong Learning Programs - Great Decisions Series, SIUE, Mar 2014

•  “SIUE Hijab Day Challenge,” Muslim Student Association, SIUE Chapter, Feb 2014

•  “Muslim Women Today” Life Long Learning Programs, SIUE, Sep 2013 AND Edwardsville Library Spring Program, Edwardsville Public Library, Mar 2013

•  “Women in Islam in the context of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” The Year of the Book Series, Women Studies Program, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Oct 2012

•  “Medical Ethics and Empathy,” Senior Resident FOCUS, Family Medicine Residency Program at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood, KY; Sep 2011 & Aug 2012

•  “Muslim Political Identity,” 2010 Sagan National Colloquium, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH Sep 2010