My newest publication, co-authored with Melvin Whitehead, Matt Smith, and Brittany McDaniel, “A Document Analysis Examining the Experiences of Muslim College Students at a Public University in the U.S. South” is a school newspaper dive into the reported experiences of Muslim college students in the U.S. South “in light of President Trump’s issuance of Executive Order No. 13769 in January 2017” (Whitehead, Smith, Williams & McDaniel, 2019).
Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of writing this project was our forced scholarly shift. As noted in our manuscript,
Originally, we intended to conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews with Muslim international students from the countries listed in Executive Order No. 13769. Interviews provide first-hand accounts about participant experiences and allows researchers to probe participants’ stories and statements to collect rich data (Patton, 2015). However, as we reached out to various campus offices to contact these students, we learned they were unable to assist us due to a policy enacted by the Board of Regents in the wake of the Executive Order No. 13769.
Whitehead, Smith, Williams & McDaniel, 2019
Research is political and this is an attempt to work within a relative set of arbitrarily enforced rules and culture of fear. Dear Muslim International students, I am, like many of us are, trying to see you, hear you, and center you.
Direct link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/739997