Friday, May 1, 2009

WALLA WALLA, Wash.— Islamic feminism will be the topic of a lecture sponsored by Whitman’s newly-formed Muslim Students Association on Wednesday, May 6.

“Behind the Veil: A Muslim Feminist” will be presented by Jamillah Karim, author of the recently published “American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class and Gender within the Ummah,” at 7 p.m. in Maxey Auditorium, near the intersection of Boyer and Otis on the Whitman campus. Her presentation, which is sponsored by the Muslim Students Association and the President’s Office, is free and open to the public. For more information contact laymouss@whitman.edu

Karim earned a doctoral degree in Islamic studies from Duke University and currently studies issues facing Muslim women in the United States, specifically Islamic feminism. “American Muslim Women” reveals the ways in which multiple forms of identity frame the American Muslim experience, some reinforcing ethnic boundaries and some resisting them. It also investigates what it means to negotiate religious sisterhood within America’s race and class hierarchies. Her ethnographic study also explores how Islamic details of racial harmony and equality could have a positive impact on American society, which remains challenged by race and class inequalities.

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CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College News Service, (509) 527-5156
parishlj@whitman.edu