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Alumni and Friends

Support Arab and Muslim American Studies

“Solidarity,” designed by Nihad Dukhan

The program in Arab and Muslim American Studies in the American Culture Department at the University of Michigan is one of only a handful of such programs in the United States, with five core faculty and ten faculty associates. Arab and Muslim individuals and communities have been living in the Americas for centuries. We focus on events that have inspired Arab and Muslim immigration and displacement to the U.S. and shaped Arab and Muslim American engagements with racism and whiteness. Our research and teaching highlight Arab and Muslim American cultural expressions, the links between race, class, gender, sexuality, and religion, and the significance of media and art. We situate Arab and Muslim American Studies with regard to the wide range of indigenous, racial, ethnic, and immigrant communities in the U.S. We prioritize community-based approaches that link universities with local Arab and Muslim American communities from a social-justice-based perspective.

Your Gifts at Work 

"AMAS has a large potential to fundraise from alum and parents of students in the program. As the first program of its kind in the country, AMAS at U of M is uniquely situated to anchor the field of American Muslim Studies nationally. Over the past few years we have graduated scores of minors from our program demonstrating the interest and need for the program. Our university also has a relatively large percentage of Arab and Muslim students. While our accounting of students by religion and from the MENA region is limited, this is recognizable through the number of student groups (17 Arab related groups on campus and 28 Muslim adjacent groups on campus). Adding faculty and programing that can help teach, mentor and serve AMAS students is an area U of M can and should distinguish and support. We have made some great strides in recent years that offer great momentum to take this program now to its next level.”

–Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History; Director of the Program in Arab and Muslim American Studies

Giving Opportunities

Arab and Muslim American Studies (AMAS) Strategic Fund ‑ 373549

Each year, the program faces unexpected opportunities to extend its mission that are not funded by the standard budgeting process. An expendable account allows the program to respond to such opportunities and address unexpected special needs. It also provides the program director with resources that can support exceptional cutting-edge work that will have a high impact on the field of study, our students, or our program.

Professor Charlotte Karem Albrecht with just-graduated PhD student Belquis Elhadi, April 2023

Networking among Arab and Muslim American Studies researchers and students on other campuses: The networking fund would allow more concerted joint research and presentations across the country, with U-M at the center. 

Countering Islamophobia: The Countering Islamophobia fund would provide monies for studies that disrupt negative stereotyping of Arab and Muslim Americans and provide solidly grounded academic knowledge about these communities.

Thank you for supporting Arab and Muslim American Studies!