Sanaya Hoskote
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Alisa Perkins
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Dream of Detroit / 0
Program:
Authors: Sanaya Hoskote, Alisa Perkins
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 83
Abstract
The Black American Muslim community is one that often gets overlooked in both conversations about Black American experiences in the United States, and conversations about Muslim experiences in the United States. Despite this, the Black American Muslim community in the United States is one with a rich, meaningful history and legacy, one which Dream of Detroit honors and builds on through its work in Detroit, Michigan. Dream of Detroit, a faith-based organization led by Executive Director Mark Crain, uses affordable housing development, community service, and reentry services to work towards creating a thriving community on Detroit’s west side. Through initiatives like the Detroit Muslim Storytelling Project, with its Oral History Archive and film, DREAM also works to preserve the local legacies and contributions made by Muslim leaders and activists to social justice struggles in Detroit and the larger Michigan region. Through my UROP project with DREAM, I transcribed interviews conducted as part of the Storytelling Project film and oral history archive, and facilitated collaboration between Dream of Detroit and University of Michigan programs. I transcribed seven full interviews with community members, along with a number of speeches delivered at community events hosted by Dream of Detroit and the Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center. This work will help in efforts to preserve and disseminate information that serves to honor the legacies and contributions made by community members to the development of Dream of Detroit and the wider Detroit community. While transcribing these interviews, I was able to learn more about the events such as the founding of the Muslim Center, the development of the Nation of Islam, and the many initiatives spearheaded by the Dream of Detroit to improve the Detroit community. I also assisted in developing a working relationship between the Dream of Detroit reentry program, Project Homecoming, and the University of Michigan program Prison Creative Arts Project to create opportunities for collaboration between the two on reentry services for formerly incarcerated individuals and the advancement of broader reform efforts serving justice-involved individuals.
