Speaker: Saeed A. Khan, Wayne State University-Detroit, Michigan, USA  

As the United States moves toward becoming a majority-minority country within 30 years, it faces significant social transformation affecting several demographic categories.  As the uncertainty of this emerging America creates anxiety within the currently majority society, the Muslim community has been perceived as an illegitimate and pernicious threat to its respective dominant cultural stability.  This anti-Muslim attitude, Muslimophobia, is more a reflection of this anxiety than a genuine fear of Muslims or Islam.

This lecture will explore the current anxieties in America's social evolution and the way they affect relations and attitudes with the Muslim community.  It also showcases recent efforts to foster understanding about Muslims, including an innovative new course on Muslim-Christian diversity offered at an Michigan evangelical college, creating a safe space to discuss contentious issues and achieving a metric for dialogue and acceptance in a shared cultural space.  

About the Speaker

Saeed A. Khan is currently in the Department of History and Lecturer in the Department of Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State University- Detroit, Michigan, where he teaches Islamic and Middle East and History, Islamic Civilizations and History of Islamic Political Thought.  He is also Adjunct Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Detroit-Mercy and at Rochester College, co-teaching a course on Muslim-Christian Diversity. With areas of focus including US policy, globalization, Middle East and Islamic Studies, as well as genomics and bioethics, Mr. Khan has been a contributor to several media agencies, such as C-Span, NPR, Voice of America and the National Press Club, as well as newspapers and other outlets, and is also a consultant on Islamic and Middle East affairs for the BBC.  In addition, he has served as consultant to the US-Arab Economic Forum.  Most recently, Mr. Khan has founded the Center for the Study of Trans-Atlantic Diasporas, a think tank and policy center examining and comparing the condition of ethnic immigrant groups in North America and Europe, consulting the US and UK governments on their respective Muslim communities.

For more information, please contact ywang@aus.edu .