As students at University of California, Berkeley, we are a diverse group of students in search to better our understanding about the culture and history of Muslims through a course taught by Dr. Hatem Bazian called Asian American Studies 128AC: Muslims in America.
Aleks Lindgren, currently a junior studying Integrative Biology, chose to take Muslims in America, a course completely different than her major, due to her interest in Muslim culture and history. Since freshman year, she has been learning Arabic at Berkeley and her curiosity was peaked when Dr. Bazian, one of her Arabic professors, mentioned that he taught Muslims in America. Upon graduating Berkeley, she plans to pursue a career in medicine and hopes that her open-mindedness to different cultures and religions will allow her to better serve her future patients. Outside her studies, she enjoys being outdoors and active such as running, hiking, and spending time with her friends by relaxing on the beach.
Conni Kim, born in California and raised in Colorado, is currently a junior studying Integrative Biology. She has always had an interest in studying and learning about different religions due to her Christian background. However, it wasn't until freshman year at Cal, when one of her roommates was Muslim, that she realized how little she knew about the Muslim culture Whenever she had the chance, she would talk to her roommate about the practices of her religion. Upon hearing bits here and there, the more she wanted to learn. While Conni plans to pursue a career in dentistry once graduating, she hopes to carry her constant thirst for knowledge of different cultures and religions with her. In her free time, she loves to try new places to eat with her friends and hit the mountains to snowboard when she is back home.
Michelle Chow is currently a senior studying Computer Science and Business Administration. She is from San Diego, and enjoys running, bouldering, and playing the Resistance: Avalon board game in her free time. The reason she took the class actually originates from a viral video--a Fox News interview of Reza Aslan, a Muslim author who wrote a book about Jesus Christ called Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. The interviewer showed a lot of ignorance and bias--"You are a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?" But it also made her realize that she personally has a lot of ignorance about the Muslim culture and the discourse on Muslims in America, which is why she thought taking the class with Dr. Bazian would give her a lot of insight.