The past two decades have witnessed pervasive anxieties in US Muslim communities about a widespread crisis of faith. In this talk, Zaid Adhami will unpack some of the social conditions at the heart of this phenomenon, in particular the convergence of the American ethos of personal authenticity with global movements of Islamic revival. Drawing on two years of ethnography as well as a wide array of public discourses, Dr. Adhami unpacks a number of ambiguities in the ideal of authenticity. Through this, he sheds light on the tension between individuality and collective belonging.
This event is presented by the Islamic Worlds Initiative.
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Zaid Adhami is Associate Professor of Religion at Williams College. His scholarship and teaching lie at the intersection of Islamic studies, the study of contemporary American religion and culture, and the anthropology of religion. He is the author of Dilemmas of Authenticity: The American Muslim Crisis of Faith (UNC Press, 2025). He received his PhD from Duke University in 2018.