CALS Office of Diversity Affairs Celebrates
Moving Beyond Diversity Towards Inclusion and Equity

The Many Faces of Islam: Beyond the Headlines

There are approximately seven million Muslims in the United States. These men and women come from all walks of life and from a range of ethnic and racial backgrounds. This presentation will help audiences better understand Islam in all its diversity in the US and abroad. Who are these Muslims in America and how are they perceived by non-Muslims? What is the history of Islam and what are some of the major challenges facing Americans in trying to better understand the religion, both its ideals and practice? Indeed, what is the experience of being Muslim-American post-9-11? The presentation will help audiences better understand Islam in all its diversity as seen from the perspective of a scholar and teacher whose own Christian and Muslim backgrounds may help to illuminate the complex and often misunderstood histories and cultures of Muslims in the U.S. and overseas.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Omar Ali

Historian, Associate Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies at UNC Greensboro, CNN and NPR commentator, NC Humanities Council Road Scholar

Omar H. Ali, a scholar of independent politics, the African Diaspora, and Islam, is an honors graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. Ali is of Peruvian and East Indian background and brings a broad, inclusive perspective to his lectures and presentations. He has been a Fulbright professor of history and anthropology at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, and a Library Scholar at Harvard University. He serves as a consultant to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, the College Board, and the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2011 Ali helped curate an exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library called The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World.

Registration will be available soon!

This event is open to all.

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Presentation description and biographical information made available by the NC Humanities Council