Petra Alsoofy

Facing Race: The Complexity of Identities and Narratives Through the Lens of Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories

Native Americans are often invisible in our public discussion of America and even more so in any discussion of Muslims in the United States. As a group, Native Americans broadly make up 1.8% of the US general population. As such, they are often overlooked, invisible, and underrepresented in public conversations and decision-making. Muslims, the most ethnically diverse faith community in the nation, broadly make up an estimated 1.1% of the US general population. Among Muslims in the United States, Native Americans make up just 1-2%.

Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories: Reclaiming the Narrative (NAIMS), the first comprehensive study of its kind, is centered around spreading awareness of the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. It includes the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. We explored identity, ways to navigate multiple marginalized communities, and intersectionality.

The complexity and richness of such identities, like being Native, Black, and Muslim in the US, will take the audiences to a conversation beyond race and racism 101. Religion, ethnicity, race, belonging, and creating a society that fits all of us will be the center of this conversation. By centering their voices and images, this form of storytelling opens up the possibilities of new ways of understanding, disrupts dominant narratives about Native American and Indigenous Muslims, and helps audiences contemplate broader themes of identity and what it means to be an American today.