Harvard University doctoral candidate Nancy A. Khalil, supervised by Dr. Steven C. Caton, will undertake research on secular legal claims brought by Muslim minorities. The research will be focused on a local terrorism trial and three Muslim-American institutions: a higher education institute, a mosque, and a community development organization. Adding field material from these three institutions to material already collected during the trial, the project aims to understand why and how an "American Islam" is pursued and produced (and by who) in response to the anti-terror climate.
The researcher will undertake twelve months of field research in the greater Boston-area. Using a variety of social science research methods, including: interviews with institutional actors, participant-observation at institutional events and programs, as well as strategic planning meetings. This material will be analyzed and compared to trial transcripts and field notes using qualitative data analysis software to discursively track how the law (through court testimony) and the community (through these institutions) are converging and diverging in their shaping of an "American Islam."
This research is important because its results can contribute a qualitative understanding of how the post 9-11 climate infuses the shaping of an American Islam. Increasingly, the relationship between America, Muslims, Islam, and the Muslim world has received significant media and policy attention. Elucidating a local experience of an independent, proactive response to perceived legal interference of a state with ostensible religious freedom rights can offer a perspective that challenges many of the prevailing scholarly assumptions about Islam and secularism. This is particularly valuable for policymakers whose objective is national security and preserving the values of a liberal-secular democratic society. Funding this research also contributes to the education of a graduate student.
