Commentary

I have written commentaries on popular culture, campus politics, and on the discipline of history. I am interested in how minorities interact with the state and how the discipline of history mirrors structures of power in the world outside.

Speaking for Ourselves: American Muslim Women’s Confessional Writings and the Problem of Alterity in Journal for Islamic Studies 33 (2013): 48-76.

This article, co-authored with Aysha Hidayatullah, analyzes a body of confessional writings produced by American Muslim women in the wake of 9/11. We argue that these writings, rather than representing empowerment, are compromised by the needs of cultural ambassadorship.

Jews, Muslims, and Religious Visibility on American College Campuses in Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities.” Eds Aaron Hahn Tapper and Reza Aslan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)

This article examines the differences in how Muslim and Jewish students on American college campuses negotiate the accommodation of religious practice.

The Unbelieved and Historians: On the Limits and Possibilities of History in History Compass, Nov 2017.

This short essay was part of a debate about how historians might deal with the agency of supernatural beings, such as jinn or ghosts in whom we are obligated to disbelieve.