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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Moustafa Bayoumi
Oral history interview conducted by Liz H. Strong
September 25, 2018
Call number: 2018.006.41
504
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Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Moustafa Bayoumi
Moustafa Bayoumi was born in 1966 in Zürich, Switzerland. His family immigrated to Canada when he was a toddler and settled in Kingston, Ontario, where his parents taught at the local college. He moved to New York City in 1990 to attend graduate school at Columbia University. After earning his doctor of philosophy, he taught postcolonial literature at Brooklyn College. He was a prolific author on issues surrounding Islam and the Arab world, regularly appearing in The Guardian, The Progressive, and other similar publications. He also wrote the books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America in 2008 and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror in 2015.
In this interview, Moustafa Bayoumi discusses growing up in an Egyptian academic family in Kingston, Ontario. He expands on his own studies, especially pursuing his PhD at Columbia University; teaching at Brooklyn College; and becoming an author. He also speaks about American politics and law enforcement, especially surrounding the surveillance of Muslim American students at Brooklyn College; racial profiling in New York City; the consistent presence of Islamophobia throughout both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations; and the escalation in Islamophobia he has observed during the Trump administration. In addition, he touches on the broader demographic changes and gentrification in Brooklyn. Interview conducted by Liz H. Strong.
This collection includes oral histories conducted and arranged by Brooklyn Historical Society in 2018. The interviews reflect varying approaches to religious observance among Muslim Brooklynites in relation to a wide range of communities and traditions within Islam, including Sunni, Shi'i, Sufi, Nation of Islam, W. D. Mohammed community, Five Percent, Dar ul Islam, and Ansaarullah. Collectively, there is particular focus on cultural and religious customs, practices, and gender roles within these communities; education and the arts; immigration from South Asia and the Middle East; the Nation of Islam; Islamophobia in the wake of the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as well as after the 2016 presidential election; political activism and engagement; and community relations with law enforcement and government officials.
Citation
Bayoumi, Moustafa, Oral history interview conducted by Liz H. Strong, September 25, 2018, Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories, 2018.006.41; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Bayoumi, Moustafa
- Brooklyn College
- Columbia University
- Said, Edward W.
Topics
- Arabs
- College teachers
- Gentrification
- Immigrants
- Islamophobia
- Muslim Americans
- Muslim authors
- Police-community relations
- Political activists
- Racial profiling in law enforcement
- September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Kingston (Ontario)
Transcript
Download PDFFinding Aid
Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories