Arun Rasiah Faculty Profile

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Arun  Rasiah

Associate Professor/Director of Liberal Studies

Department of Ethnic Studies

Arun Rasiah is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Director of Liberal Studies at CSUEB. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Oberlin College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught in schools, jails, community colleges and universities in the Bay Area. In 2019 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University College London and the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests are in literacy studies, Islamic education, Muslims in the Americas, and Indian Ocean history.

  • BA, History, Oberlin College
  • MA, Education, University of California, Berkeley
  • PhD, Education, University of California, Berkeley
Spring Semester 2024
Course #SecCourse TitleDaysFromToLocationCampus
ES 39501Muslims in the AmericasMW11:00AM12:15PMWEB-SYNCHOnline Campus
ES 39502Muslims in the AmericasARRWEB-ASYNCHOnline Campus

Shifting Cultural Paradigms in Global Education: Toward Decolonizing Knowledge. In Y. Alpaydin and C. Demirli (eds.). Educational Theory in the 21st Century: Science, Technology, Society, Education. Maarif Global Education Series. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

An Imagined Diaspora. Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies 4, 2 (2021) 144-164.

Another Cartography is Possible: Relocating the Middle East and North Africa. Review of Middle East Studies 54, 2 (2021) 309-313.

Ideas in Motion. In Scharbrodt and Y. Shanneik (eds.). Shia Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality. Series: Alternative Histories. Edinburgh University Press, 2020.

Making Global Connections: Critical Pedagogy and the Decolonization of History. In Hensold J., Kynes J., Öhlmann P., Rau V., Schinagl R., Taleb A. (eds.). Religion in Motion: Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Springer, 2020.

Toward Muslim Pluralism: Dialogue and Discord in Contemporary Sri Lanka. In J. Bock, J. Fahy, and S. Everett (eds.). Emergent Religious Pluralisms. Series: Lived Religion and Societal Challenges. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Reflections on Teaching Islam in the US: Religious Education and Ethnic Studies. Islam in the RE Classroom Workshop. The Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board (ITREB) for UK and the Aga Khan University – Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, London (AKU-ISMC) June 25, 2022.

From Area Studies to Ethnic Studies: Pedagogical Approaches to the Study of Muslims in the Americas. The Madrasa and the Modern Academy: Convergences, Departures and Possibilities for Collaboration. Markfield Institute of Higher Education (MIHE) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), December 14, 2021.

Racial Justice, Social Movements and Policy Change: Integrating Ethnic Studies and Education in California. Invited Talk, Gevirtz School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, Nov. 30, 2021.

Self-Reformation and Community Reorientation: Ethical Learning and ‘Alid Piety in Tamil Islam. Sites and Processes of Ethical Learning: Religion and Self-Making in Asia. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Nov. 1-3, 2021.

‘The Internal Revolution’: Transformative Ethics in the Life of Safiya Asya Bukhari. Caribbean Philosophical Association Conference: Shifting the Geography of Reason XIX, Black Lives Matter: Black American Resistance Through Thought, June 18, 2021.

From Qom to Colombo: New Iterations of Madrasa Life in South Asia. Hawza Studies: Current Research, Future Developments, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, Sept. 17, 2020.

Shifting Paradigms of Islamic Knowledge: Formations of Muslim Thought in Sri Lanka. Beyond Sectarianism? Towards an Alternative Understanding of Identity Politics and Communal Antagonism, Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge, Oct. 24, 2019.

Malcolm X: On Education. Visiting Fellows Seminar, Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London, Sept. 24, 2019.

A Hidden Diaspora: New Formations of Muslim Ethnicity in Sri Lanka. Us and Them: Diasporas for Others in the Indian Ocean. Centre for Interdisciplinary Area Studies, Martin-Luther University, Halle, Germany, Sept. 16, 2019.

‘Think for Yourself’: Malcolm X and the Politics of Critical Thinking. Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, Invited Talk, University of California, Santa Barbara, August 29, 2019.

Malcolm X in Retrospect. Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, June 20, 2019.

In Pursuit of Knowledge and Freedom: Malcolm X and Transformative Ethics in Muslim Life. Visiting Fellows Seminar, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, May 27, 2019.