Noor Khanafer
Research Mentor(s): Alisa Perkins
Mentor Department: Dream of Detroit
Authors: Noor Khanafer, Alisa Perkins
Session: Session 7 (4:00pm – 4: 50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 60
Abstract
The Dexter-Linwood neighborhood on Detroit’s westside is rich in history and culture, with a predominantly African American population. Written off by city planners, the city’s residents faced a great deal of municipal and financial neglect. Dream of Detroit is situated in a 10-block neighborhood within the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood. The non-profit was born from the efforts of community members to revitalize the neighborhood through community organizing, economic development, and housing. Dream of Detroit is located near the Muslim Center and Community Center and focuses on faith-based advocacy to serve and empower the marginalized local community. To document these historic efforts, Dream developed the Detroit Muslim Storytelling project, a public humanities initiative, including a documentary film to portray the social justice efforts of African American Muslims in Detroit. The film serves as an educational and historical archive of community members’ solutions to combat population loss, economic decline, and municipal neglect through a faith-inspired lens. To better highlight important scenes for the documentary, we have transcribed audio clips, logged film clips, and selected B-roll footage best suited to the film. The selected clips and transcribed footage will be included in the documentary to better educate viewers on the innovative social justice efforts of the Dream of Detroit community.
