Center partners with IIR for panel discussion on xenophobia and Islamophobia

EventIn recent years, the United States has witnessed an increase in xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric. The prevalence of inaccurate information about immigrants and Muslims has resulted in significant fear and mistrust in many communities. This panel discussion will present facts about these two specific groups in order to promote greater understanding and empower audience members to engage in informed activism.

Panelists:

Besheer Mohamed
Pew Research Center

Amber Jamil
American Pakistan Foundation

Patricia Maulden
School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Ahmet Tekelioglu
Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies

This event is free and open to the public with registration. Please register via Eventbrite here.

Refreshments served

About the speakers:

Besheer Mohamed is a senior researcher at Pew Research Center. He is involved in the design and implementation of many of the Center’s domestic religion polls. He specializes in studying religious minorities in the U.S., with a specific focus on Muslim Americans. Before joining Pew Research Center, Mohamed worked at the University of Chicago’s Survey Lab. Mohamed received a doctorate in sociology as well as a master’s degree in Middle East studies from the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Implications of Religious Identity for American Muslims and Muslim Immigrants: Hurt by Recession but Not Complaining. He has worked on the Center’s surveys of Muslim Americans, Mormons and Asian Americans as well as its polling on religion and politics. Mohamed has presented his work at academic conferences and been interviewed as an analyst by a variety of broadcast and print media.

Amber Jamil is Executive Director of the American Pakistan Foundation, where she leads the effort to strengthen Pakistan’s resilient communities through innovative, multi-sector partnerships. Originally from Pakistan, she is a dynamic professional experienced in stakeholder engagement, international development and membership development. She has engaged political leaders, senior government officials as well as private sector and civic partners to highlight the role of collaboration in international peacebuilding and development efforts. As Executive Director at Development Organization for Societies in Transition (DOST), a Pakistan based NGO with demonstrated success in rural education, civic participation and economic development, she led the effort to strengthen resilient communities through multi-sector partnerships and integrated responses. Ms. Jamil has developed, implemented and evaluated multi-sector rural projects for Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) and Dutch Official Development Assistance (ODA). In addition, Ms. Jamil's credentials include leadership in several membership based organizations, including Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). As National Director at AIUSA, she developed strategy and leveraged cross-functional teams to mobilize half a million members for AIUSA’s human rights mission.

Patricia A. Maulden is Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution and Director of the Dialogue and Difference Project with The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. Her research interests include generational and gendered dynamics of conflict and peace, social militarization / demilitarization processes, urbanization, post-conflict peace economies, and peacebuilding practices. She has written about child soldiers generally as well as, more specifically, the roles of girls and women in conflict – whether as soldiers, combatants, or associates of fighting forces. She is currently investigating the dynamics of NGOs as private peacebuilding contractors and their roles in the post-conflict peace economy, the post-conflict paradox – engaging war while creating peace, and exploring peacebuilding over time, more specifically the trajectories of post-conflict knowledge.

As part of an ongoing research project she exploring community based peace education in Sierra Leone and Burundi, and, building on a recent field assessment in Liberia, organized a palaver management project bringing students to Liberia to work with local youth-focused organizations. Domestically, Dr. Maulden researches and teaches about youth gangs as well as gang-related community peacemaking programs. As a practitioner, she conducts seminars on interpersonal conflict resolution, facilitates intergenerational and interethnic dialogues, and has served as a restorative justice caseworker. As Director of the Dialogue and Difference Project at George Mason University, she plans dialogue events, trains student facilitators, and writes practice related curriculum.

Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu joined Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies in 2016 as the Content Editor for the Center’s academic blog, Maydan. Tekelioglu holds a PhD in Political Science from Boston University and a Masters in International Relations from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. His research focuses on American religious landscape, politics of ethno-religious identities, Muslim minorities in the West, and international relations theories. His doctoral work focused on contemporary debates about American Muslim identity and transnational belonging among American Muslim communities in Boston, San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. From 2013 to 2015 Ahmet Selim directed the Los Angeles leg of the Public Ethics and Citizenship in Plural Societies Project with Contending Modernities program at Notre Dame University. He previously held research and teaching appointments with Institute on Religion, Culture and World Affairs (CURA) and Frederick S Pardee Center for the Study of Longer-Range Future at Boston University, Boston University Department of Political Science, Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, SETA Foundation and Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.