Aftasten/Tantear: A sensorial, coalitional wayfinding among Muslim runners

Muslim recreational runners in Muslim‐minority settings that take up running as their preferred form of leisure indicate that they feel they have to navigate a sense of exclusion when running outdoors. This article explores the process of exploration and sensing in public, represented by the Dutch verb aftasten , to investigate the way Muslim women and men feel their way throughout the world: to grasp it, understand it and make it one's own. It builds on the decolonial feminist scholarship of Maria Lugones, who uses the Spanish term tantear “both in the sense of exploring someone's inclinations about a particular issue and in the sense of ‘tantear en la oscuridad,’ putting one's hands in front of oneself as one is walking in the dark, tactilely feeling one's way”. The ways in which minoritized runners calculate risk, navigate their environments, and form coalitions with others demonstrates a sensorial wayfinding crucial in spaces that are often considered gender‐ and race‐neutral. A focus on the process of aftasten and tantear , which foregrounds “knowing as a sensorial and sensual experience”, helps illuminate how social and cultural power dynamics become embodied in everyday practices.