About Nafeesa Andrabi

I am a 4th year Sociology PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill and a Biosocial Fellow at Carolina Population Center. I draw on multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches to understand health disparities and experiences of race and Muslimness in the US. My research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

First, I study American Muslims and perceived Muslimness as a site for understanding how race, immigration, and religion shape identity formation and the US racial order. Second, I examine the consequences of Muslimness and race on health across the life course, and racial health disparities more broadly. Lastly, my work theorizes on the experiences of those who exist on the fringes of US racial categories and how to interrogate practices of conceptualizing, measuring, and analyzing race as a variable. I also work peripherally on topics of inequality, status and surveillance as they relate to health. One line of inquiry uncovers the role of technological surveillance on macro inequality and health outcomes. In another project, I study how subjective experiences of inequality impact health across the life course.

I am a cis-gender, Muslim, Pakistani-American woman who grew up in an affluent Los Angeles suburb to educated Pakistani immigrants. This positionality shapes my work, the ways in which I move through this world and my experiences with structures of oppression. As a scholar and researcher, I aim to use my privilege to highlight the realities of those who have been systematically marginalized and uncover the consequences of such oppression without pathologizing the communities I study.

Equally important to my research is public writing, storytelling and effectively communicating ideas and findings to a broad audience. Hosting on this podcast is one way I get to do just that!

Nafeesa Andrabi is a 4th year Sociology PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill, a Biosocial Fellow at Carolina Population Center and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.

NBN Episodes hosted by Nafeesa:

November 24, 2021

Agents of God

Jeffrey Guhin

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi

Jeff Guhin joins us today to talk about his book Agents of God: Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools (Oxford University Press, 202…

March 29, 2021

Forever Suspect

Saher Selod

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi

How does a specific American religious identity acquire racial meaning? What happens when we move beyond phenotypes and include clothing, names, and b…

March 23, 2021

Becoming a Citizen

Kamran Khan

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi

Citizenship is acquired and constructed through various mechanisms, including language tests, that require individuals to demonstrate a sufficient nat…

March 11, 2021

I Don't Like the Blues

B. Brian Foster

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi

Brian Foster, self-identified Black boy from rural Mississippi, joins us today for a conversation about his book, I Don't Like the Blues: Race, Place,…