Mafaz Al-Suwaidan is a Kuwaiti American academic and current doctoral candidate at Harvard University. She is also a producer and writer for American Muslims (2024),[1] a PBS film series of short documentary films.[2]
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Mafaz Al-Suwaidan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |
| Education | Harvard University (PhD candidate) Harvard Divinity School (MTS) Emerson College (MFA) Toronto Metropolitan University (BJourn) |
| Father | Tareq Al-Suwaidan |
| Website | mafazalsuwaidan |
Early and personal life
Al-Suwaidan was born in Oklahoma and spent some of her youth in Kuwait and Canada.[3][4] Her father is Islamic author, Tareq Al-Suwaidan.
Education
Al-Suwaidan received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in 2011.[5] She then worked briefly as a journalist in Kuwait.[6][7][8] In 2016, she received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Emerson College, in Boston, Massachusetts.[9][4]
She earned a Master of Theological Study (MTS) degree from Harvard Divinity School in 2018.[10] She is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University in Philosophy of Religion, focused on Islam and Modern Thought, with a secondary degree in African and African American Studies. She is also a member of the university's Committee on the Study of Religion.[11]
She has been named as Dorothy Porter & Charles Harris Wesley Fellow for 2024—2025 by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.[12]
Activism
Summarize
Perspective
Al-Suwaidan is and has long been a supporter of social justice, human rights, and specifically, Palestinian liberation, in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[13]
She has participated in conversations and writings about racism in the Arab world in context of the Black Lives Matter movement.[14][15] She started the #ArabsForBlackLives campaign with Egyptian-American community organizer, Rana Abdel Hamid, about how Arabs can work to fight against anti-Black racism.[16][17]
In 2021, when philosopher Cornel West had threatened to (and eventually did) leave Harvard after his request for tenure was denied; Al-Suwaidan, who had trained with West as a master's student, organized a letter of support for him, which was signed by more than 60 other doctoral candidates.[18]
She was one of the representatives of HGSU-UAW who wrote a letter in February 2024 to Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), on behalf of the UAW Arab Caucus, demanding the union divest from Israel.[19]
In March 2024, a Lowell House panel discussion on Islamophobia and antisemitism featuring Al-Suwaidan, Rabbi Professor Shaul Magid, and Madeline J. Levy (a PhD student) was planned to take place. However, the event was cancelled after Al-Suwaidan, Lowell House Faculty Deans, and the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics withdrew.[20] Lowell House had removed themselves as co-sponsors for the panel, after Alexander Kestenbaum, a student from the Harvard Divinity School, took to Twitter and alleged that "the event failed to include Jewish and Zionist voices." [21]
References
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