Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik is a scholar of American studies, critical race and ethnic studies, women’s and gender studies, and religious studies. Her research focuses on the history of Islam in the United States, specifically the lives of U.S. Muslim women, Black American Islam, and the rise of anti-Muslim racism in 20th-21st-century America, and more broadly, the intersections of race, gender, and religion in struggles for social justice. Sylvia is a core faculty member in the Departments of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, affiliate graduate faculty for the Department of Religion, and Chair of American Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She is the author of "Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam" (NYU Press, 2018), and "A Part of Islam: A Journey through Muslim America" (Penguin Random House, forthcoming 2026). Sylvia speaks frequently on issues of U.S. Muslim politics and culture, Islam and gender, and racial and gender politics in the U.S., and her writing and commentary has appeared in venues such as The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, Slate, Mic.com, The Intercept, Middle East Eye, PRI, HuffPost, Patheos, Religion News Service, and more.
