Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper is to understand the transitioning professional identity of a Muslim woman.This qualitative paper focused on the navigation of a Muslim woman's transitioning profession identity.The purpose of this paper was viewing my experiences as a Muslim woman through my educational journey from religious education to secular higher education identifying a professional identity shift.I therefore, recognize a gap, where my comfort zone was my Islamic environment and not an environment for professional growth.An interpretivist paradigm was used for my epistemological stance and my ontological stance was a realism.This paper was embedded in a conceptual framework, where I merge possible selves' theory and the Johari Window Model.The research design of the paper employed and autoethnographic design where the data was generated mainly from, personal narratives, artefacts, memory work and my research journal.For trustworthiness of the paper, co-constructors were identified and asked to verify my personal narratives.A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze my data to identify appropriate themes to answer my research questions.The findings of this paper focus on how my professional identity developed and all influences there after influence my professional identity especially from cultural and religious background and past experience.I was required to adapt and accept the internal external factors for developing my professional identity continuously in various context. Identities as a conceptAccording to Hardy, Nadal and Schwartz (2017) identities are interconnected and cannot exist independently.Professional identity is associated with professional self-concept [2], and identity is associated with self-concept [1].The friction between professional identities is discussed as well.The workplace and personal context are two examples of professional identity issues [3], morals, values, and beliefs are directly related to personal identity [4].Racial and social categories are included in this [1].Understanding one's personal identity precedes developing one's professional identity [2].Due to prejudice variables like race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, health, mental health, and many other traits, stigmas affect both personal and professional identity [5].One's professional identity is
Author: Nurain Aboo
Institution: University of Pretoria
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407413905