Dr. Zain Abdullah
Associate Professor of Religion & Society and Islamic Studies
personal website: zainabdullah.com
B.A., Rutgers University
M.A., New School for Social Research
Ph.D., New School for Social Research
Zain Abdullah is the author of Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem, published by Oxford University Press in 2010. He holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology and is Associate Professor in the Religion Department at Temple University, where he is also a faculty affiliate in the Department of Geography & Urban Studies.
His current work focuses on the interplay of race, religion and ethnicity, and his writings cover an array of topics including Islamic Studies and contemporary Islam, African American Muslims and Islam in America, religion and society, African Diaspora Studies, and globalization and transnationalism.
Professor Abdullah’s articles have appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Anthropological Quarterly, the Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, the Journal of History and Culture, African Arts, the Middle East Journal, and other periodicals. He has been quoted in the New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Star Ledger, Reuters-Worldwide Religious News and other media outlets for his work on race, Islam, immigration, intergroup relations and other topics.
He has earned awards from the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the National Museum of African Art, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the International Center for Migration, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in New York City in addition to a New Jersey State Assembly Resolution in recognition of his service to the citizens of the state. He currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Religion and Migration Group of the American Academy of Religion.
As a recipient of the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship award for 2011-2012, he is working on a book project exploring Black Muslim conversion and the Nation of Islam in Newark, New Jersey.
For more on Dr. Abdullah, including his book reviews, films, books and articles, and photography, visit his personal website at: zainabdullah.com
Courses Designed & Taught
African American Islam (graduate - designed & taught)
Islam in Global Perspective (graduate - designed & taught)
Foundations in Religion and Public Life (graduate)
Foundations in Islam (graduate)
Religion and Society
Contemporary Religious Thinkers
Introduction to Islam
Islam in America
Racial Justice: A Religious Mandate for Obedience and Revolt
Selected Works
Books
Temple 25: Black Religiosity and the Rise of American Islam (forthcoming)
Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)
Selected Academic Book Reviews for Black Mecca
Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, reviewed by Chernoh M. Sesay, Jr. (2012), pp.1-3
Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, reviewed by Göran Larsson (2012), 2, no.
2, pp. 369-370.
American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, reviewed by Yushau Sodiq (2012), vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 134-137.
The Journal of African American History, reviewed by Courtney Lyons (2012) vol. 97, no 1-2, pp. 197-199.
Black Theology: An International Journal, reviewed by Richard Reddie (November 2011), vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 381-382.
Sociology of Religion, reviewed by John L. Jackson, Jr. (Winter 2011), vol. 72, no. 4,
pp. 488-490.
American Anthropologist, reviewed by Erin E. Stiles (September 2011), vol. 113, no. 3,
pp. 511-512.
Social Service Review, "Brief Notes" published by The University of Chicago Press (September 2011), vol. 85m no. 3, pp. 528-529
Choice, American Library Association, reviewed by Juliane Hammer (April 2011)
Articles & Book Chapters
"Malcolm X, Between Orthodox Islam and the Black Self," in Malcolm X and the Black Studies Discipline: Signifyin(g), Race, Identities, and Michigan in the Black World Struggle, eds. Rita Kiki Edozie, Curtis Stokes, and Austin Jackson (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, forthcoming 2013)
"Transnationalism and the Politics of Belonging: African Muslim Circuits in Western Spaces," Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Dec. 2012, 32(4), pp. 427-449.
"Narrating Muslim Masculinities: The Fruit of Islam and the Quest for Black Redemption," Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, Autumn 2012, 1(1): 141-178.
“American Muslims in the Contemporary World: 1965 to the Present,” in The Cambridge Companion to American Islam, eds. Omid Safi and Juliane Hammer (New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2012)
“Towards an African Muslim Globality: The Parading of Transnational Identities in Black America,” in West African Migrations: Transnational and Global Pathways in a New Century, eds. Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome and Olufemi Vaughan (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
“Objects of Desire: Shopping for Identity and the Meaning of Africa at the Harlem Market,” African Arts, 2011, Winter, 44 (4): 8-21.
“Life As Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East by Asef Bayat. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2010,” reviewed by Zain Abdullah, Middle East Journal, Spring 2011, 65 (2): 346-348.
“Culture, Community and the Politics of Muslim Space,” Journal of History and Culture, 2010, Summer, vol. 1 (3): 8-24.
“West African ‘Soul Brothers’ in Harlem: Immigration, Islam, and the Black Encounter” in Black Routes to Islam edited by Manning Marable and Hishaam D. Aidi (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
“Sufis on Parade: The Performance of Black, African and Muslim Identities,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2009, June 77(2), 199-237.
"African 'Soul Brothers' in the 'Hood: Immigration, Islam and the Black Encounter," Anthropological Quarterly, 2009, Winter 82(1): 37-62
“Negotiating Identities: A History of Islamization in Black West Africa,” Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, vol. 10, no. 1, 2008, pp. 5-18.
“West Africa,” Encyclopedia of American Immigration, James Ciment (ed.) (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), pp. 1070-1078.
Films
Director, Cinematographer: “Blessed and Highly Favored.” A film by Zain Abdullah, documentary short. New York, NY., color, 13 mins., (Fall) 2009.
Editorial Advisor: “Dollars and Dreams: West Africans in New York,” a documentary film by Jeremy Rocklin and Blue Saxophone Films, New York, NY. Color, 56 mins., 2007. Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (DER) http://www.der.org/films/dollars-and-dreams.html.
Photography
Photographic Work: Photos in Akel Kahera, Latif Abdulmalik, and Craig Anz. (2009). Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers: Art, Architecture, and Worship (New York: Elsevier / Architectural Press): Figure 1.2 “Masjid Malcolm Shabazz,” p. 3; Figure 4.0 “Islamic Cultural Center, New York, Geometric Pattern,” p. 54; Figure 4.2 “Lower Level Prayer Space, Arabesque Patterns, Floral Motifs, and Calligraphy,” p. 55; Figure 4.7 (repeat of Figure 4.2), p. 58; Figure 4.16 “Islamic Cultural Center of New York,” 2 photos, p. 68.