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For Interfaith Lecture Series, scholar, activist Su’ad Abdul Khabeer to speak on how art can examine, challenge societal perceptions

Distinguished scholar, artist and activist Su’ad Abdul Khabeer challenges people to question what they do and don’t perceive as Muslim. Her recent work “Umi’s Archive” is a multipart, multimedia research project that delves into the intersections of history and hidden narratives of Black women and Black Muslims, inspired by her mother’s life. She titled the series “Umi’s Archive,” with “Umi” meaning mother in Arabic. For Khabeer, this project underscores the essential wisdom held by everyday Black women.

Abdul Khabeer
Khabeer

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Khabeer currently serves as an associate professor of American Culture and Arab and Muslim American Studies at the University of Michigan. She earned a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Princeton University after graduating from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and completed the Islamic Studies diploma program at the Institute of Abu Nour University in Damascus.

As an anthropologist, Khabeer authored her first book, Muslim Cool: Race, Religion and Hip Hop in the United States as a study on Islam and hip-hop that explores how Muslim and Black identities converge to challenge and reshape racial meanings in the United States. 

“If you think Islam is a quote-unquote brown person with a beard who doesn’t speak English, then you’re not seeing Islam when A Tribe Called Quest is at the Grammys, right?” Khabeer told CNN in an interview for the network’s series on the 25 most influential American Muslims. “But if you know that there’s this history in which Black Muslims have really shaped the ways in which people work and move in the world, have really inspired — like Malcolm X, for example — inspired people to be very much committed to questions of social justice, then you’ll see it and you’ll see it all the time.” 

Khabeer will speak at 2 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy for Week Six’s Interfaith Lecture Series, which is themed “The Arts: Expressions from the Soul.” It will not, as incorrectly noted in the weekend calendar insert, be livestreamed on CHQ Assembly.

Khabeer’s academic work also includes her performance-based work, such as her solo performance of Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life. She’s also the co-founder of Sapelo Square, the first website focused on documenting and analyzing the Black American Muslim experience. Her writings have been featured in The Root, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Ebony Magazine, The Huffington Post, Religious Dispatches, and Trans/Missions. Additionally, Khabeer was a senior project adviser for the award-winning documentary “New Muslim Cool,” and her poetry is featured in the anthology Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak. 

Tags : ILSinterfaith lectureinterfaith lecture previewMuslim Cool: Race Religion and Hip Hop in the United StatesreligionSampled: Beats of Muslim LifeSu’ad Abdul KhabeerThe Arts: Expressions from the SoulWeek six
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