Understanding Muslims in America

PITTSBURGH—Even though one out of every five people in the world is a Muslim and six million Muslims reside in the United States, their faith, customs, and culture are sometimes widely misunderstood.

In response, the University of Pittsburgh’s Global Studies Center is offering a weekend course, Muslims in a Global Context: America, March 18-20 on the Oakland campus. This course is open and free to the public, and Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University students may take the course for credit. Sessions all three days will take place in 2400 Sennott Square, 210 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. All participants must register by Friday, March 4. 

This timely course brings leading scholars to Pitt’s campus in a condensed format. Participants will hear about Muslim immigration to the United States, the cultural integration of Islamic traditions, the compatibility and/or tension between Islamic beliefs and democracy, the cause and impact of Islamophobia, and the impact of post-9/11 on forming Muslim identity in America. It is hoped that participants will gain an understanding of the religious, cultural, and political influences of Muslims in America. This is an opportunity for students and the community to learn about their Muslim neighbors, colleagues, clients and/or constituents.

Guest lecturers for the course and their topics of discussion include:

Zaheer Ali, oral historian, Brooklyn Historical Society
“The Roots of American Islam”
“Islam, the Black Nation, and the Ummah” 

Hatem Bazian, founder, Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, University of California, Berkeley
“The Islamophobia Industry” (videoconference)

Haider Ala Hamoudi, associate professor, Pitt School of Law
“Shari'a and Law in the Non-Muslim State” 

Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, author, artist, activist
“Muslim Cool: Blackness, Hip-Hop and Muslim Identity” 

Saeed A. Khan, lecturer, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Wayne State University
“Muslim Migration Since WWI and Ethnic Tensions”
“Moral Panics and Islamophobia in the U.S.: Demonizations and Demographic Shifts”

Dalia Mogahed, director of research, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
“American Muslims by the Numbers”

Altaf Husain, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Howard University
“The Psychological Impact of Growing Up Muslim in a Post-9/11 U.S.”

A complete schedule is available here.

Muslims in a Global Context: America is cosponsored by Pitt’s Department of Political Science, Carnegie Mellon University’s Office of the Provost and Division of Student Affairs, and the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS).

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