On April 3, 2009, the Asian American Studies Program, the Middle East Center, and the South Asia Center of the University of Pennsylvania will play host to a one-day conference on “Global Islam in Everyday America”:

As Islam is increasingly associated with worldwide debates on terror, anti-West sentiment, and extremism, images of Islam and Islamic identity circulating in the media have become ubiquitous.  Pictures of the veil, the turbaned terrorist, and the children schooled in madrasas are conflated to a singular representation of all Muslims.  While Muslims face the challenges of negative imagery, researchers know relatively little about the lived experiences of Muslim Americans.

Global Islam in Everyday America is a one-day conference that explores Islam and Muslim identities in the U.S. by interrogating the multiple implications resonating from stereotypes of Islam and the ways in which the imagined versus the lived experience of American Muslims are implicated.  We encourage papers that address the migration experiences, political participation and representation of Muslim Americans.  We welcome scholars from a wide range of social science and humanities disciplines to submit their 750 word abstract that address these issues on Muslims of all racial and national backgrounds in the United States. Preference will be given to papers based on ethnographic research.

Read the full announcement here.