اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Kenan Refai Fellow in Islamic Studies
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

PUBLICATIONS

Books

In Progress “The Vast Oceans: Remembering God and Self on the Mustafawiyya Sufi Path”

Book Chapters

Submitted for final review (In Press) “Alchemy of the Fuqara: Spiritual Care, Memory, and the Black Muslim Body,” Embodying Black Religions in Africa and its Diasporas: Memory, Movement, and Belonging Through the Body; edited by Yolanda Covington-Ward and Jeanette Jouili. Duke University Press; pp. 71-100.

Refereed Articles

Submitted for review “West African Sufism and the Matter of Black Life,” Race, Islam, and Africa: Anthropological Perspectives, for Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute; 27 pages

Submitted for review “Fisibilillah: Labor as Learning in the American South and Senegal,” Special Collection on Africa, Globalization and the Muslim Worlds (Compiled by the Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University); 20 pages

2019 “Black Muslimness Mobilized: West African Sufism in Diaspora,” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol. 36, Winter Issue. International Institute of Islamic Thought; pp. 1-28.

Other Writings

2020 “Critiquing Black Muslim Reason: What good is Critical Race Theory to Muslims?” Sapelo Square (Online) / Maydan Journal, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University.

2018 “Remembering the First Mosque in North Carolina,” for Sapelo Square (Online).

2017 “History and Memory in the Muslim Community of Moncks Corner,” Maydan Journal, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University.

2016 “Traveling Ode of the Faqir,” Crosscurrents, Vol. 65, No. 4: 410-421.

2010 “Islamic Party of North America,” in Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History; edited by Edward E. Curtis IV. New York: Facts on File, Inc.

Reviews

2018 “Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba: A Peacemaker of Our Time,” Research Africa, Volume 3, Issue 1.

2018 “Obama-Mentum: An Anthology of Transformational Poetry," Research Africa, Volume 1, Issue 2.

2013 “Call of Bilal: Islam in the African Diaspora,” Comparative Islamic Studies Vol. 9, No. 2: Equinox Publishing

2011 “Religion and Poverty: Pan- African Perspectives,” The Journal of African-American History, Vol. 97, No. 1-2, Winter-Spring.

PRESENTATIONS

2020 “The Overwhelming Event and Testimony of the God-King,” AAADS Lecture, UNC-Chapel Hill

2020 Invited Lecture, “Islam in the Carolinas,” for Kimberly Wortmann, Wake Forest University

2020 “The Sea Without Shore”, Black Muslim Atlantic Symposium, Duke Islamic Studies Center, Duke University

2020 Invited Lecture, “The Politics of Becoming a Slave of God,” for Rudolph Bilal Ware, University of California—Santa Barbara

2019 “Black on Both Sides: Sufi Poetry as a Decolonial Atlantic Archive,” Religion and Society Panel (1st Anniversary Celebration), Musee de Civilisations Noires, Dakar SN

2019 “West African Sufism and the Matter of Black Life,” American Academy of Religion, Annual Meeting

2019 Discussant, “Recognizing Africa’s Contributions: Rewriting Africa’s History,” Africa Regional Meeting on International Decade for People of Africa Descent, African Union / Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dakar SN

2019 “Refusing the Gaze: A Memoir of Subalternity and Insights on Doing Black Anthropology,” Engaging Anthropology Symposium, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

2019 “Tarbiyah as Liberation from Senegal to the American South,” Africa, Globalization and the Muslim Worlds Symposium, Harvard Divinity School

2019 “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?: Negotiating Race In and Beyond the Umma,” Black Muslim Psychology Conference (Muslim Wellness Foundation)

2019 “The Future of Black Mosques in America,” The Future of Black Institutions Symposium, Harvard University

2019 Discussant, “After Malcolm: Digital Archive,” Inaugural Panel, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University

2019 Invited Lecture, “Black Muslimness Mobilized: Spiritual Care, Dhikr in the Mustafawi Tariqa,” for Ousmane Kane, Islam in Africa Workshop, Harvard University

2019 Invited Lecture, “On Black Muslim Activism,” Harvard Islamic Society, Harvard University

2019 Invited Lecture, ”Daydreaming About Diaspora," Center for African Studies (African Studies Workshop), Harvard University

2018 "On Black Atlantic Sufism," Black Islam in the Americas Symposium, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

2018 "Muhajjirun wal Ansars: Migrants and Mobility in Moncks Corner,” Department of Anthropology (Race & Migration Panel), UNC-Chapel Hill

2017 "The Vastness of His Oceans: Knowledge, Reversion and the Mobility of Black Muslimness," American Anthropological Association, 116th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C.

2017 Discussant, ”Slavery and Islam in the American Public Square," Private Workshop, Georgetown University

2017 Invited Lecture, “Diasporic Connections and Networks Among African-Americans and West Africans,” for Mbaye Lo, Duke University

2017 “Science & Secret: West African Islamic Pedagogical Tradition,” International Institute for Islamic Thought, Graduate Summer School Program, Herndon VA

2017 “West African Balladry and the Black American Muslim Voice,” 3rd International Sufi Conference, Government of Sindh's Department of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Karachi, Pakistan

2017 “Alchemy of the Fuqara,” Embodiment and Relationality in Religions of Africa and Its Diasporas Symposium, University of Pittsburgh

2017 “From Slave to Abdullahi: Black Muslim Pedagogy, History, and Reversive Memory,” Graduate Student Colloquium on Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Diyanet Islamic Research Institute

2017 Invited Lecture, “Schooling the Black Muslim Body,” for Ellen McLarney, Duke University

2015 “Muhajjirun wal Ansar: Mobilities and Memory among Muslims of African Descent,” Ali Mazrui Commemoration Conference, International Institute for Islamic Thought (VA)

2015 “Am Na Ndam: Communicating Spiritual Genealogy and Diasporic Inheritances through Song,” African Diaspora and Religious Studies Association Symposium, Harvard University

2014 Invited Lecture, “Mapping a Course for Understanding the Intersections between Spiritual Performance and Religious Memory in a Transnational Sufi Network,” Department of Religion, University of Gaston-Berger; Saint-Louis, Senegal

2012 "Watching the Throne: Thinking about Postcolonial Subjects, Movement, and Spatial Politics via Hiphop in France" Migrations et Mouvements Sociaux: Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme; Paris, France

2012 “N*ggas in Paris: Watching Thrones, Postcolonial Space, and Political Antinomies,” St. Clair Drake Graduate Research Symposium, University of California- Berkeley

2012 “Unearthing the African Body: Themes of Recognition and Racial Exclusion in Dubois, Fanon, and Mbembe,” Fourth Annual African Diaspora Studies Symposium, North Carolina Central University

2011 “In It, But Not of It: An Analysis of African American Muslims and Transnationality,” Intersecting Identities in African American History: Fifth Annual New Perspectives on African American History and Culture, UNC-Chapel Hill

2010 “Eat to Live; Black Women and Alternative Economies via Foodways in Islamic Communities,” 95th Annual ASALH Convention, Association for Study of African- American Life and History, Raleigh NC

2009 “Arranging and Describing the Helen G. Edmonds Manuscript Collection,” Dr. Helen G. Edmonds New South Annual Lecture Series, Department of History, North Carolina Central University

2008 “Community Formation and the Foundation of The Political Identity of the Islamic Party in North America, 1969-1974,” Southern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, North Carolina State University

TEACHING

2020 “African American Islam,” UNC-Chapel Hill

2019 “Subaltern Anthropology & the Politics of Method (Graduate Seminar)” and “Critiquing Black Muslim Reason in the United States,” Harvard University

2019 "The African Diaspora: Time, Space, and Belonging” and "Theories & Discourses in Religion (Graduate Seminar),” Harvard University

2019 "Quest for Meaning: World Religions,” Oregon State University (Ecampus)

2018 "Black Muslims: Race, Religion, and Culture in the United States," Harvard University

2015-2018 “The African-American Experience: An Intellectual Tradition” Hillside High School, Durham NC

2015-2016 “Precolonial Africa,” “Modern Africa,” and “Islamic Civilizations,” NC School of Science & Math, Durham NC

2015 “World History,” Trident Technical College, Berkeley County, SC

2013-2014 Graduate Student Instructor, “Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology,” Department of Anthropology, University of California-Berkeley

2013 Graduate Student Instructor, “Introduction to Culture and Natural Resource Management,” Environment Science & Policy Management, UC-Berkeley

2013 Graduate Student Instructor, “Hiphop as Postcolonial Studies in the Bay Area,” ACES Program, University of California-Berkeley

2012 Graduate Student Instructor, “Muslims in America: Communities and Institutions,” Department of Asian American Studies, University of California-Berkeley

2009 Graduate Student Instructor, “The South in Black & White,” Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

2008 "American Islam: Black American Identity, Community and History," (Shortcourse) Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

2007 Graduate Student Instructor, "Africa Since Independence," North Carolina Central University

AWARDS

2019 Certificate of Teaching Excellence, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University

2019 Professional Award for Professional Development, FAS Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Harvard University

2018 Teacher Summer Institute Fellowship, "The Civil Rights Movement: Grassroots Perspectives," Duke University, National Endowment for the Humanities

2017 Non-Residential Research Fellowship, International Institute for Islamic Thought

2015 Summer Graduate Research Grant, Berkeley Center for Study of Religion, University of California, Berkeley

2015 Rocca Dissertation Grant, Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley

2014 Rocca Dissertation Grant, Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley

2014 Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant, Graduate Division, UC-Berkeley

2013 (Nomination), Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, University of California, Berkeley

2012 American Cultures-Engaged Scholar Fellow (ACES), University of California, Berkeley

2012 Summer Predissertation Research Grant, Institute for European Studies, University of California-Berkeley

2012 (Honorable Mention), Ford Pre-dissertation Fellowship, Ford Foundation

2011 Chancellor’s Fellow, Graduate Division, University of California, Berkeley

2011 Graduate Division Block Grant, Graduate Division, University of California- Berkeley

2011 Power Top-Off Award, Department of Anthropology, University of California- Berkeley

2006-2008 Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Department of History, North Carolina Central University

AFFILIATIONS

American Academy of Religion

American Anthropological Association

SERVICE

Institutional

2020 Undergraduate Studies Committee, Dept of Religious Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill

2019 Discussant, “Anthro Day” (Religion Panel), Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

2008-2014 Founding Co-Chair, African Diaspora Studies Symposium, North Carolina Central University

Disciplinary

Co-Editor, Journal of Africana Religions

Steering Committee Member, Contemporary Islam Unit, American Academy of Religion

Contributing Editor, Transforming Anthropology Journal

Board Member, After Malcolm Digital Archive, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University

Black Islam in the Americas Symposium, University of Michigan, 2018 Co-Organizer

Community

Chief Editor, Voyages Africana Journal Online

Education and Heritage Subcommittee, African American Cultural Celebration Planning Committee, NC Museum of History

2019 Invited Lecture, Somali Youth Mentoring Group, Northeastern University

2019 Consultant / Planning Committee, “Islamic History in North Carolina” Installation, North Carolina Museum of History

2018 Discussant, "Building Bridges through Good Faith," Public Reception Panel, Museum of Durham History

2017 Community History Project Participant, Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center, Durham NC