Impact Statement

The endowment in Indian Muslim Studies provides an annual budget to the hired professor and the Center of Muslim Experience (CME-US) to undertake research on different aspects of Indian Muslims, advance scholarship by creating collaborative partnerships with other scholars, and to disseminate critical knowledge about Indian Muslims to the public.

Research: The Endowed Chair in Indian Muslim Studies will develop and advance a rigorous research agenda on various aspects of Indian Muslims, depending on their disciplinary field, areas of expertise, and professional interests. Topics of research will vary depending on the knowledge and interests of the professor selected for the Chair position. The endowment will support their research and publishing.

Collaboration: The Endowment, with the support of CME-US, will provide the Chair in Indian Muslim Studies opportunities to organize regular workshops, bringing together scholars from around the world to discuss relevant topics about the Indian Muslims in India and globally. In addition, the Chair will organize panels at national and international conferences, providing leadership and giving coherency to the emerging field of Indian Muslim Studies. In addition, the Chair will collaborate with other scholars to publish edited books on relevant topics and organize special issues in academic journals focusing on Indian Muslim issues.

Public Engagement: The Chair in collaboration with CME-US and other academic units at ASU will undertake an active public education program by inviting keynote speakers and organizing panel discussions for a public audience and make them accessible online.

• Research deepens knowledge about the social, political, economic, and/or cultural place of Indian Muslims, the historical and social forces that shape their conditions today, their contributions to Indian society, and the relationship between diasporic Indian Muslims and the Muslim communities in India, and/or the rich diversity of Muslim cultures and histories in India.
• By deepening knowledge of Indian Muslims, the Endowed Chair will be a leader in defining the field of study about Indian Muslims and the critical issues they face. Indian Muslim Studies today is an incoherent field, comprised of disparate individuals around the world with no existing network, no academic association, and no defined program of development. Rather, scholars working on Indian Muslims are consumed within the broader field of Indian Studies, with a primary focus on non-Muslim communities, cultures, and issues.
• In defining the field of study, the Endowed Chair will be able to establish a network of scholars of Indian Muslims and serve as a mentor to junior scholars. The network will be able to host workshops and organize panels at major international conferences. In addition, as a cohort of engaged scholars becomes defined, they will collaborate in writing edited volumes and special issues of academic journals.
• In being a leader in fostering a network of scholars in Indian Muslim Studies, the Endowed Chair will advance graduate studies by attracting additional students to study under their guidance. In so doing, they will develop additional courses at the undergraduate level, providing exposure to non-Indian Muslims about the rich histories and cultures of India’s Muslims, and provide Indian Muslims an opportunity to see themselves in the university, strengthening their sense of belonging and Muslim Americans.
• In creating a dynamic graduate program of study at ASU, the Endowed Chair will work with students and others to make knowledge accessible to the general public and engage local, national, and international media with articles and op-eds about the condition of Indian Muslims.

Research Topics

The area of specialization of the Endowed Chair will be open to historians, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and scholars of journalism, gender, and religious studies. Their research will be defined by their interests, disciplinary concerns, and the missions of the Endowment and CME-US and will evolve.

Potential topics of expertise include, but are not limited to:

• Partition and the making of Indian Muslims as a minority community;
• The reshaping of Muslim religious practices and Sufi shrines in the context of Hindutva;
• The politics of Muslim women as the subject of state control over the Muslims of India;
• Diasporic Muslims: Tracing the impact of out-migration on particularly Muslim communities in India;
• Diasporic Muslims: How Indian Muslims abroad are reshaping the social and political lives of Indian Muslims;
• Media and the rhetoric of Islamophobia in India today;
• Tracing the shifting electoral practices of Muslims in different Indian states;
• Who speaks for India’s Muslims?: Competing claims to authority and power;
• Kashmir and the unmaking of India’s Muslims.

Each of these topics has different impacts and implications, tracing out the precarious place of Muslims in India today, particularly under the rise and rule of Hindutva. The primary concern of the Endowed Chair will be to understand the contemporary condition of India’s Muslims and to look toward the future and ways of overcoming precarity, conflict, and the lack of peace in India today.