Maryam Kashani

Maryam Kashani is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, holding joint appointments in Gender and Women's Studies, Asian American Studies, Anthropology, and affiliated roles in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Her work bridges racial studies, Islamic communities, and visual anthropology. She teaches courses on gender representation, feminist theory, and Asian American media.

Her research focuses on racial/ethnic/religious diasporas, gender and sexuality, and visual culture. Recent work includes Medina by the Bay (2023), analyzing Muslim communities in San Francisco, and Habib in the Hood (2018), exploring anti-racist praxis through Islamic history. She has also produced films like Signs of Remarkable History (2016) and installations addressing diasporic identity.

Awarded the DUP Scholars of Color First Book Award (2023), her interdisciplinary approach integrates anthropology, film, and critical theory to examine power dynamics in marginalized communities. She advises on grants related to race, religion, and media, though no specific students/grants are listed in the text.