17 Amerasia Journal 40:1 (2014): 17-33 “A Space for the Spiritual”: A Roundtable on Race, Gender, and Islam in the United States Moderated by Sylvia Chan-Malik, with Evelyn Alsultany, Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, and Maryam Kashani Sylvia Chan-Malik SYLVIA CHAN-MALIK is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Wom- en’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her re- search examines the intersections of race, religion, gender, and sexuality through critical frameworks of American transnationalism and compara- vkxg Gvjpke Uvwfkgu. ykvj c urgekÞe hqewu qp vjg jkuvqt{ qh Kunco kp vjg United States. Over the course of the last decade, conversations around race cpf tgnkikqp kp vjg Wpkvgf Uvcvgu jcxg ujkhvgf ukipkÞecpvn{. kp pq uocnn rctv fwg vq yjcv jcu dggp ecnngf Ñvjg tcekcnk¦cvkqp qh Kunco0Ò The term names various processes by which those perceived to be Muslim and/or Arab have, to cite critical race and legal stud- ies scholar Leti Volpp, undergone a “particular racialization, yjgtgkp ogodgtu qh vjku itqwr jcxg dggp kfgpvkÞgf cu vgttqtkuvu. cpf fkukfgpvkÞgf cu ekvk¦gpu0Ò * Such racialization processes have become a common subject of critique in the scholarly and activ- ist left, and in particular for those working in Ethnic Studies and critical American Studies frameworks. At the same time, due to cp kpetgcugf kpvgtguv kp KuncoÔu jkuvqt{ kp vjg Wpkvgf Uvcvgu. pgy cpf gzekvkpi uejqnctujkr jcu cnuq gogtigf fqewogpvkpi KuncoÔu complex and multifaceted presence across black American, Asian American, and Arab American communities, which extends to the earliest days of African chattel slavery in the New World. Cu Kunco cpf Owunkou jcxg dgeqog vjg hqewu qh wprtgeg- dented interest and scrutiny, the existence and subjectivities of Muslim women within the U.S. remain largely obscured and/ or ignored in both public and academic spheres. When Muslim yqogp ctg xkukdng. vjg{ ctg nctign{ rqtvtc{gf cu Ñqxgt vjgtg.Ò vjg objects of Western feminist pity living under oppressive regimes in the Middle East—representations that elide the historical lega-