CARNEGIE CORPORATION HONORS IUPUI PROFESSOR; WILL STUDY AFRICAN AMERICAN CONNECTIONS TO FOREIGN MUSLIMS
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has named IUPUI professor Edward Curtis a Carnegie Scholar.
The Corporation will provide Curtis with a grant of approximately $100,000 to study African American Muslim connections to foreign Muslims and Islamic institutions in Muslim countries. "When policymakers think of black Muslims traveling and studying in Muslim countries," said Curtis, "they often conjure fearful images of a black American in some terrorist training camp."
Curtis's project will counter the idea that foreign Muslims lead African Americans toward radicalism. "The typical African American Muslim abroad is going on pilgrimage to Mecca, studying Islamic piety in Senegal, and speaking out for women's rights in Indonesia," he said.
In exploring the influence of foreign Muslim ideas, traditions, and culture on Muslim African Americans, Curtis's Carnegie-funded research project will show how Muslim African Americans have transformed Islam into a genuinely American religion. "The project could not be more timely," he adds. "Some Hoosiers are worried about Andre Carson's Islamic faith and are anxious about Barack Obama's father, who was Muslim. This issue is at the center of our public life."
The Carnegie Scholars program was established in 1999 to provide financial and intellectual support to writers, analysts and thinkers addressing some of the most critical research questions of our time. Since 2005, the program has supported scholars whose work seeks to promote American understanding of Islam as a religion, the characteristics of Muslim societies, in general, and those of American Muslim communities, in particular.
Every year since 2000, Carnegie Corporation of New York selects as many as 20 Carnegie Scholars following a rigorous and highly competitive process. Nominations are invited from more than 500 nominators representing a broad range of disciplines and institutions, including academia, research institutes, non profit organizations, the media and foundations. Nominators are asked to identify original thinkers who have the ability—or promise—to spark academic and public debate, and whose work transcends academic boundaries.
In nominating Curtis for the award, IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz noted that IUPUI had given Curtis an endowed professorship at the age of 35. "Dr. Curtis showed extraordinary promise when he joined us in Indianapolis," Bantz wrote. "That promise has been fulfilled not only in the service he has rendered as a public intellectual and University leader, but also in the world-class scholarship he has produced."
The 2008 Scholars are drawn from a number of disciplines and represent public universities, liberal arts colleges and traditional research universities. Curtis, who was lured to IUPUI's School of Liberal Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a specialist in African American Islam. He teaches classes in African American religions, Islam, and religion and racism, in addition to leading the IUPUI Summer Abroad Program in Jordan.
Since 2001, Curtis has given over a hundred public lectures and interviews to educate the general public about Muslims in America in addition to writing books for general readers. His most recent book is "The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States."
According to Curtis, scholars who study Islam and Muslims can no longer afford to speak only to college students and faculty. "The future of the U.S. foreign policy will depend in no small part on the average citizen gainer a deeper knowledge of Islam and Muslims, and educators have to provide accurate and clear answers to Americans' questions about Islam."
But cutting through all the stereotypes can be hard. "I try to make sure that Americans realize Muslims have always been a part of the United States," he explained, "and that Muslim Americans can help their fellow Americans understand a religion that so many of them fear right now."
For more information on the Carnegie Scholars Program, see
http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/scholars.html
Contact: Edward Curtis, Phone: (317) 278-1683
Rich Schneider, (317)278-4564, rcschnei@iupui.edu
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