Muslim pracademics as double brokers: a faith-sensitive, intersectional framework for understanding pracademics’ experiences and positionalities

Abstract

ABSTRACT The term pracademic, which describes individuals with dual identities as both academics and practitioners, is becoming increasingly common in global development circles. However, much of the academic literature on pracademics focuses on experiences of a relatively privileged elite of pracademics who are white, from the Global North, and working with secular organisations. Using collaborative autoethnography and mutual reflection, this study explores the multifaceted experiences and functions of Muslim pracademics, bringing religion to the fore and adding it to existing debates on race, gender, and development. The article illustrates how Muslim pracademics do not just act as brokers between academia, practice, and communities but also between faith-based and secular spheres. It proposes the use of faith-sensitive, intersectional frameworks to the study of pracademics’ experiences and positionalities. Challenging notions of development as a process that only occurs in formerly colonised countries, we compare experiences of pracademics in the UK and worldwide.