Read to Study Muslim American Political Incorporation with $100,000 Grant

UC Irvine sociologist Jen'nan Ghazal Read, whose research has contributed to the understanding of U.S. Muslims and Arab-Americans, has been named a 2006 Carnegie Scholar by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Read is one of just twenty researchers from across the country, all focusing on Islamic issues in the modern world, to win the two-year $100,000 research prize.

The Carnegie award will fund Read's project examining factors that affect the political integration of Muslims in the U.S., with the goal of understanding how racial and ethnic diversity of Muslim Americans impacts their participation in democratic processes. Read says that while often thought of as a single homogenous group, Muslim Americans in fact represent a range of ethnicities including South Asian, Arab and African-American. Her research aims to inform public discussions about how to encourage Muslim Americans to participate in American political life.

"It's a wonderful honor to be among these forward-thinking scholars contributing to our understanding of Muslims in America," said Read, an assistant professor of sociology. "What's so exciting about this project is that we have the opportunity to learn so much. We know very little about how Muslim Americans interact with the American political system and how ethnic or cultural differences affect their political integration."

Using the only nationally representative data on Muslim Americans currently available, Read will look at how racial or ethnic group membership impacts Muslims Americans' political integration. She also will explore the effects of socioeconomic, demographic and cultural differences between these groups, as well as how religious identity influences political engagement. Read expects her work also will contribute to the distinction between Muslim-Americans' political attitudes toward U.S. domestic policy and those toward U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, an important division in today's social and political climate.

According to the Carnegie Corporation, this year's scholars were selected from the largest number of nominations to date, and this is the second year that the entire class of Carnegie Scholars have been focused on issues related to Islam in the modern world.

"Jen'nan Read has done important work on Muslim American issues," said Barbara Dosher, dean of the School of Social Sciences. "We're proud of her accomplishment and delighted that the Carnegie Corporation is supporting her promising research."

The goal of the corporation's new emphasis on Islam is to encourage the development and expansion of the study of Islam within the United States and to stimulate research on which to help build a body of thoughtful and original scholarship.

About Carnegie Scholars Program: Under the leadership of Vartan Gregorian, Carnegie Corporation launched the Carnegie Scholars Program in 1999 to support innovative and path-breaking scholarship on issues related to corporation program areas. Candidates for the fellowships are first identified by a distinguished group of nominators, then are evaluated and selected in a competitive process by a committee of Carnegie Corporation program leaders and external advisors. This year's class joins a group of 83 Carnegie Scholars who have been selected annually since 2000.

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