About Me
Hussein Rashid, PhD, is founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency.
He works with a variety of NGOs, foundations, non-profits, and governmental agencies for content expertise on religion broadly, with a specialization on Islam.
He currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School.
Academia
Hussein has a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University, a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and an MA and PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, focusing on South and Central Asia from Harvard University. He has taught at Hofstra University, Fordham University, Iona College, Virginia Theological Seminary, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, SUNY Old Westbury, Barnard College, Columbia University, and The New School, where he earned a distinguished teaching award in 2023.
His research focuses on Muslims and American popular culture. He writes and speaks about music, comics, movies, and the blogistan.
He has published academic works on Muslims and American Popular Culture, Malcolm X, qawwali, intra-Muslim racism, teaching Shi’ism, Islam and comics, free speech, Sikhs and Islamophobia, Muslims in film, American Muslim spaces of worship, and the role of technology in teaching religion. He co-edited a book on Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel with Jessica Baldzani called Ms. Marvel’s America: No Normal. He also co-edited The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslims and Popular Culture with Kristian Petersen, and another volume Islam in North America with Huma Mohibullah. His most recent publication is Teaching Critical Religious Studies co-edited with Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand and Beverley McGuire. He is currently working on a cultural history of Muslims in America.
Hussein is on the editorial board of book series Religion and Comics at Claremont Press and is a Cultural Co-Editor for CrossCurrents, The Bloomsbury Studies in Popular Fiction and Religious Dynamics, the Journal of Interreligious Studies. He was on the editorial boards of Religion Dispatches, The Islamic Monthly, and Cyber Orient, in addition to being an emeritus scholar at State of Formation.
Community
He is a fellow with The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship, the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and the Truman National Security Project. He was a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and a term member on the Council of Foreign Relations. He is also a member of the Guild of Future Architects and a Dūcō Expert.
He is on the advisory boards of The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (Building Bridges Program), Sacred Matters, and Rivrb. He served on the advisory boards of Values and Voices, Abe’s Eats, Deily, Project Interfaith, Everplans, Vennly, the British Council’s Our Shared Future Program, Intersections International, and Al-Rawiya. He serves on the boards of Anikaya Dance Theater and the Interfaith Center of New York.
Media
Hussein appears on mainstream media, including CNN, Channel 4 (UK), Al-Jazeera America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and has published at On Faith (Washington Post), Belief Blog (CNN), On Being (NPR), The Revealer, and as a contributor to Religion News Service.
Projects
His current projects include a documentary on Muslims in America. He worked with the Children’s Museum of Manhattan as a content expert on their exhibit “America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far.” He is also an executive producer on the award-winning animated short “The Secret History of Muslims in America.” He recently finished working as the Project Director of The Arts of Devotion at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.