Workshop: Researching Muslim America and Muslim Americans

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The increasing size and political relevancy of the Muslim population in the U.S. stands in stark contrast to the trivial amount of quality data describing their political attitudes and behavior. As a first step in planning and conducting a large-N, in-depth, multilingual survey of this understudied community, a full day workshop will bring together a diverse set of participants including faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Workshop participants will summarize and discuss the current state of knowledge about Muslims Americans and coordinate next steps. Participants will include faculty and graduate students who currently study Muslim Americans or who are interested in doing so. Gathering researchers together to promote collaboration and discuss recent research will 1) encourage scholars to work in this area, 2) ensure that future efforts to better understand Muslim Americans are inclusive of a broad range of research questions and hypotheses, and 3) facilitate cooperation and coordination among scholars (including graduate students). The networking of scholars, including the mentoring of junior scholars and students by senior faculty, will strengthen the diversity and quality of future scholarship and the profession.The Workshop will address several important topics in the studying of members of ethnic and/or religious groups. These include issues of identity, effects of discrimination and media coverage, political behavior, and political attitude. In addition, it will help to develop a research agenda for scholars studying these groups include a national survey. Finally, the workshop will increase synergies between faculty and graduate students of diverse backgrounds, which will in turn develop networks and collaborations.