She Speaks: Academic Muslimahs

On the 19th anniversary of 9/11, Sahar Aziz talks about how the tragedy impacted Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants within the United States. This episode discusses the PATRIOT ACT, NSEERS (2012 male registry for Muslim immigrants), and how the curtailments of rights impacted Muslim participation within social and political sphere. Dr. Aziz also talks about Muslim political interests during this election season and what we should focus on as a community (institutional change!).  

Center for Security, Race and Rights: https://csrr.rutgers.edu/

This episode focuses on Ashura. Shia Muslims throughout the world commemorate Ashura and this conversation between two Shia sisters touches on some of the aspects of this experience. What is Ashura?, what does it signify?, and how does this event shape Shia Muslims 1400 years later?  Join Dr. Sana Rizvi and Dr. Saba Fatima for this episode to learn more!

Further Information at https://www.al-islam.org/articles/karbala-chain-events

In this episode, I talk to Associate Professor Nadia B. Ahmad, who is a delegate from Florida for the Democratic party and the Founder of Muslim Delegates and Allies Coalition. She talks about mass incarceration, the need for the green new deal, and the impact of climate change on people of color. She also tells us why and how Muslims can get involved in progressive politics, and if Muslims should work to vote Trump out of office.

This is the season finale special on Ramadan and Eid. I talk to Sana Rizvi about fasting within neoliberal academia, periods, and Ramzan memories. I talk to Nausheen Pasha about her journey to loving Ramadan, to Melinda González about true spirit of fasting and being mindful, and with Rose Deighton about appreciating the simplicity of Ramadan during times of COVID. Finally, I talk to Lamiyah Bahrainwala about celebrating Eid during a pandemic and with Zainab Kabba about her varied but wonderful experiences  of Eid around the world.

Video referenced on periods and fasting:

https://www.facebook.com/themuslimvibe/videos/1112038442284489/ (I couldn't find the desi version, if you do, please send it my way)

This episode is a conversation with Katherine Bullock, Lecturer in the Department of Political  Science at University of Toronto at Mississauga. We talk about her conversion to Islam and how it impacted her research area. We dive into Québec's Islamophobic obsession with the hijab and how the norm of wearing masks reveals the hypocrisy of it all. Finally we talk about Kathy's personal passion of publishing children's books that normalize being a Muslim in the West.

Conversion Reflection: http://www.thedeenshow.com/katherine-bullock-ex-christian-canada

Compass Books: https://compassbooks.ca/

This episode features Melinda González, a PhD student at Louisiana State University in the department of Geography and Anthropology, pursuing a doctorate in Anthropology. We talk about the toll of home schooling, mental health, racial & gender disparity in medical care, getting married in times of Coronavirus, zooming a nikkah, being a first generation college & grad student, decolonizing academic spaces, and art movements as a form of recovery after a disaster.

Notes: Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Women of Color Speaking on Student Success, Allyship and Motherhood: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/decolonizing-academic

I am hard at work recording the next episode of Academic Muslimahs. In the meanwhile, I am rereleasing one of my favorite episodes. It is on mental health! a much needed conversation for the times we are in. The episode was originally released on Nov 8th, 2019. I will be back with a new episode in two weeks!

The sisters are reunited! Together, Saba & Sana talk about coping with anxiety, performing productivity within a capitalist framework, putting essential workers on a pedestal, exploitation of labor, harms of using the war analogy when talking about fighting Coronavirus, and living through this pandemic

References used:

What to do during these times: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/share-facts.html

Number of countries that have cases: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/locations-confirmed-cases.html

What to do when sick: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html

Age range for who gets extreme symptoms: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130

I have transcribed three fourths of this episode to ensure some degree of accessibility. The last 6 minutes are not transcribed because I have been unable to find the time to do it all. Transcription can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/academicmuslimahs/covid-19-episode