Prof. Evelyn Alsultany: Muslim Inclusion in Hollywood

Jared Milrad interviews best-selling author Professor Evelyn Alsultany about her powerful new book, Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion , in which Prof. Alsultany argues that Muslims are only included through “crisis diversity,” an institutional pattern of crisis (such as high-profile Islamophobic incidents), response, and then inertia until the next crisis.

Alsultany notably co-authored The Obeidi-Alsultany Test to help Hollywood improve representations of Muslims—what some label the Bechdel test for Muslims—and serves as a consultant for Hollywood studios, making her a leading expert on the history of representations of Arabs and Muslims in the US media, and anchoring her argument that diversity initiatives often end up marginalizing Arab Americans and US Muslims, while lasting, systemic change remains elusive.

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