got back home from NC after driving for 15 hours yesterday, dropping our son off to college on the way. but no time to slouch today. i screened half of The Muslims I Know for a class at st john fisher college and got to talk to students afterwards.
i was invited by the brilliant Roja Singh who’s been teaching her anthropology class about globalization, immigration, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
the discussion went well, with students asking about minor clarifications related to cultural and geographic specifics they had noticed in the film. there were also larger questions about both islam and american politics that i was happy to address.
as we were ending the class, a student asked me how i felt about what was going on in the country. he said: “u’ve made a very sensible film and provided a lot of information here, but it cannot be easy. how do muslims feel right now?” i had to be honest and tell him that in all our family conversations over the holidays we had shared ideas about relocating to other countries/parts of the world.
it’s particularly sad to have these discussions with our kids. it’s not something i had to contend with when i was growing up. i always felt i had choices – stay on and study in europe, remain in pakistan, settle in the US, etc without these choices being forced on me, on account of fear. what a privilege that was. it’s not so easy for most…
thank u to professors like dr Singh for creating the space necessary for this type of dialogue in smaller, predominantly white colleges and universities. it’s so very needed.
