American Muslim comedians like Hasan Minhaj, Kumail Nanjiani, and Aziz Ansari are among the most prominent “pop culture Muslims” on the U.S. media landscape today – but why these South Asian men and why now?
The Islam Studies Program, Department of Religious Studies and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Detroit Mercy is hosting a webinar on Friday, Jan. 21 at 5 p.m. with special guest Dr. Samah Choudhury, who is an assistant professor at Ithaca College.
Choudhury, who specializes in Islamic Studies, Humor and Comedy, Race, Gender at Ithaca College, will lead the online talk.
Through an analysis of these men’s standup routines and other comedy productions, the legibility of Islam is constructed through a racialized triangulation of gender. What does this mean for how the Muslims – and by extension, Islam – are seen and understood across such a precarious cultural terrain?