Authors

Zareena Grewal and the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI)

Zareena Grewal is a historical anthropologist and a documentary filmmaker whose research focuses on race, gender, religion, nationalism, and transnationalism across a wide spectrum of American Muslim communities. Her first book, Islam is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority (NYU 2013), is an ethnography of transnational Muslim networks that link US mosques to Islamic movements in the post-colonial Middle East through debates about the reform of Islam. Her first film, By the Dawn’s Early Light: Chris Jackson’s Journey to Islam (Cinema Guild 2004), examines the racialization of Islam and the scrutiny of American Muslims’ patriotism long before September 11, 2001. Her new project combines ethnographic and cultural studies analyses with historical research on the range of meanings the Quran has had for Americans in relation to national debates about religious tolerance. She was a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt (2002-3) and she received the Fulbright`s prestigious Islamic Civilization Grant.   


MESPI is a curated interactive platform for ME studies resources specifically tailored for the needs of teachers, researchers, and students. It will be the one-stop shop for course design on the macro level, lesson planning on the micro level, and for scholarship vis-a-vis specific topics, countries, and disciplines. Contact us at info@ArabStudiesInstitute.org.


MESPI Core Team

Bassam Haddad, Co-Director
Ziad Abu-Rish, Co-Director
Nadya Sbaiti, NEWTON Coordinator
Rochelle Davis, MESPI Editor
Rosie Bsheer, MESPI Editor
Sherene Seikaly, MESPI Editor
Huseyin Yilmaz, MESPI Editor
Mekarem Eljamal, MESPI Associate Editor
Jacob Bessen, Essential Readings Coordinator
Maddie Vagadori, MESPI Website Coordinator
Shakeela Omar, Peer-Review Articles Review Coordinator
Claire Christensen, Peer-Review Articles Review Co-Coordinator
Jonathan Adler, Essential Texts Coordinator
Willa Hart, Peer-Review Articles Review Co-Coordinator
Michael Haddad, Media Roundups Coordinator
Kylie Broderick, ASI Liaison

ARTICLES BY Zareena Grewal and the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI)