According to demographic data from ISPU’s American Muslim Poll, 9% of Muslims in the United States are Latino, a steadily growing percentage. In previous research, ISPU found that Latinos have lower levels of Islamophobia than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States and the general public. These demographic trends, coupled with the lower levels of Islamophobia found among this population, motivated ISPU to conduct research to uncover the "whys" of these findings. The result, Latino Attitudes Toward American Muslims and Islam, was published in October 23 in partnership with IslamInSpanish.

In this episode, former ISPU Director of Research, Dalia Mogahed, interviews Jaime "Mujahid" Fletcher, CEO and Co-founder of IslamInSpanish, about the report findings and what we can glean from the report's dynamic focus groups.

This episode of Deep Dives with ISPU is sponsored by Talem Consulting. Embark on a transformative journey with Talem Consulting through their intersectional and equity-based framework. Talem's mission is to build capacity, fundraise, and dismantle systems of inequity in the nonprofit sphere. Since 2011, Talem has empowered nonprofits with personalized solutions through organizational management, interim leadership, fundraising expertise, leadership coaching, workshops, and speaking engagements. Discover how you can elevate your nonprofit to new heights and create a legacy of positive change by visiting www.TalemConsulting.com.

Additional Resources:

• LANDING PAGE: Latino Attitudes Toward American Muslims and Islam
• REPORT: Latino Attitudes Toward American Muslims and Islam
• REPORT: Actitudes de los latinos hacia los musulmanes estadounidenses y el Islam
• IslamInSpanish
• Deep Dives with ISPU (2022 episode): Latino Muslims: A swiftly growing and adapting community (ENGLISH)
• Deep Dives with ISPU (2022 episode): Musulmanes latinos: una comunidad en rápido crecimiento y adaptación (ESPAÑOL)

In today’s episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, Executive Director, Meira Neggaz, sits down with SpearIt, former ISPU Scholar and current professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, to discuss a unique aspect of American Muslim life: Muslims in the U.S. prison system.

Released in August of 2023, SpearIt’s new book, Muslim Prisoner Litigation: An Unsung American Tradition, explores how incarcerated Muslims have historically and currently used legal action to exercise their rights to religious freedom and improve the conditions of their incarceration. Meira and SpearIt discuss the intricacies of prisoner litigation, as well as the demographics of Muslims in prison, how Muslims in prison have contributed to culture and social progress, and much more.

Note: Early in this episode, the number '1 million' is used to reference the number of adult American Muslims in the United States. The correct statistic is there are an estimated 2.15 million Muslim adults in the United States. In ISPU's research, when referencing the number of Muslims in the United States, we reference a 2017 demographic portrait from Pew Research Center. This portrait cites that there are an estimated 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, including 2.15 million Muslim adults. The link to the Pew survey can be found in the show notes of this episode. The link to this Pew survey can be found here: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/

Resources related to this episode:

• Get SpearIt's book, Muslim Prisoner Litigation: An Unsung American Tradition
  • University of California Press
  • Amazon
• Learn more about SpearIt: https://www.law.pitt.edu/people/SpearIt
• Pew Research Center: Demographic portrait of Muslim Americans (2017)

Native Americans are often invisible in our public discussion of America, and even more so in any discussion of Muslims in the United States. There is an absence of awareness and lack of representation of Native American and Indigenous Muslims both in the broader US public and within the US Muslim community. Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories: Reclaiming the Narrative project (NAIMS), the first comprehensive study of its kind, is centered around spreading awareness of the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States.

On this episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, ISPU Director of Communications, Katherine Coplen, sits down with NAIMS Principal Investigator, Brennan McDaniel, to discuss the findings of the two-part NAIMS report. Brennan and Katherine last spoke in February 2022 on Deep Dives with ISPU to give a preview of what this research could look like. A year and a half later, this episode is part two of that conversation, and we're thrilled to have them back to discuss the findings now that the report is complete.

Brennan is a PhD student in the American Studies department at Yale University. He received an MA from Columbia University in 2019 and a BA from Vassar College in 2017. Brennan’s work is nested primarily between Islamic Studies and Native American/Indigenous Studies, and his research interests revolve around histories of ideas, emotions, and political economies among Muslim communities and tribal nations in North America.

NAIMS: Visions and Voices is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. ISPU researchers conducted 17 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Native American Muslims over a period of six months. Interviews explored identity, ways to navigate multiple marginalized communities, and insights into participants' struggles, hopes, and dreams.

NAIMS: Trends and Treasures is a thematic report of the strengths and struggles of Native American and Indigenous Muslims. It draws on the narratives of participants in the Visions and Voices portion, as well as on a series of focus groups with Native American and Indigenous people of other faiths and no faith.

For more content like this, follow ISPU on Twitter and Facebook @theISPU, on Instagram @the_ISPU, and visit our website to access a vast repository of research. Subscribe to Deep Dives with ISPU wherever podcasts are found, and leave us a 5-star review to ensure we can produce more conversations like this one.