A new academic program, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) Endowed Chair in Indian Muslim Studies, has been launched at Arizona State University to promote research and understanding of Indian Muslims and their contributions, organisers said. The initiative is designed to support scholarship, students, and the wider community.
The initiative will focus on increasing global awareness about Indian Muslims, minority vulnerability, and human security through research, publications, public lectures, workshops, and academic collaborations. It will also support Indian Muslim students by offering new courses and strengthening the Indian Muslim Student Network, giving young people a sense of belonging in spaces where they have often been invisible.
The organizers said that the program will also give visibility to the Indian Muslim American community and showcase its role in scholarship, public discourse, and intellectual life.
“Indian Muslim Studies is an undeveloped and underrepresented field in American academia. As the largest Muslim minority population in the world, with a rich and diverse history dating back to the beginning of Islam, and having ruled over much of the subcontinent for over 800 years, Indian Muslim Studies can contribute significantly to scholarship across multiple disciplines, including history, political science, sociology, anthropology, religious studies, literature, women’s studies, and journalism,” Center of Muslim Experience in the United States said.
