I joined the Interdisciplinary Honors program because I wanted to graduate from the University of Washington with a holistic understanding of the world. When I took Honors 394B: Islam and Muslims in Western Context with Professor Karam Dana, I had the opportunity to engage in this interdisciplinary pursuit of knowledge. The class was one of the hardest and most rewarding classes I have taken during my time as a student. It had unclear expectations, was grounded in admitting your lack of understanding, and constantly created space for necessary, but oftentimes uncomfortable, realizations. The class afforded me the opportunity to construct a more informed understanding of Islam, and in turn, critically evaluate the political rhetoric surrounding Islam and the Muslim identity.
Before this class, I simply accepted everything that the media and other people told me about Islam. Growing up in a post-911 era, this meant that my understanding was skewed. I did not realize that my lack of understanding of one of the largest religions in the world was dangerous, especially in the political climate of our country. Looking back now, I am ashamed of myself for simply accepting what I had been told. I love and value the process of learning, and yet I had failed to question what I was told or seek out my own answers on this important topic. This class gave me the space to confront this uncomfortable truth and develop a holistic understanding of Islam.
The final project required me to conduct active research other than reading massive quantities of academic papers. I had engaged in literary research and biology research, but I had never conducted research for a humanity-focused question. Since research is about pursuing the answer to a question or phenomenon, I wanted to explore how preconceived notions about Islam can impact how we perceive an event. I was interested in this question because I had just spent this whole class unpacking every preconceived notion I had about Islam and I wanted to solidify for others and myself in my class the importance of this pursuit. I created a survey about the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1996 for people who had been at least eighteen when the incident took place. The survey asked people if they remembered who was initially accused, who was actually convicted, what they remembered thinking in the moment, and their takeaways. As anonymous submissions from my survey rolled in, I was shocked at the answers I received, some from extremely educated people. I almost did not want to present the research I had been working on but my professor reminded me that research is sometimes about uncovering uncomfortable truths on the pursuit to understanding. I have included my final project below: