You might remember Amara Ahmed from one of our very first guest episodes–and we were delighted to have her back! Amara is a researcher and PhD candidate based in the CA Bay Area. A trans Muslim of Mexican and Pakistani background, she is involved in queer Muslim community organizing in the area including the organization Queer Crescent.
She joined us to talk about a research survey she’s co-conducting in partnership with Queer Crescent: Presencing Ourselves: A Survey of LGBTQI+ Muslims in the U.S.
**If this applies to you, you can take the survey here!!**
We discuss the confidentiality and security of the survey, why other surveys of Muslim Americans have likely underreported queer identity, defining Muslim identity broadly, and why it’s politically and economically important to have quantitative data about a community.
We also talk about Amara’s more qualitative PhD research on similar themes, the challenges and racial divisions within Muslim community organizing, and cool specialty keyboards (check out her queer Muslim keyboard).