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Indianapolis, Ind. — Pennsylvania State University Press in cooperation with the Center for Arab Narratives (CAN) and the William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts at Indiana University Indianapolis will publish Arab Americana, a first-of-its-kind community-engaged scholarly journal about Arab American life. “Embodying the public-facing spirit of both CAN and the Plater…
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This is a history that stubbornly refuses to yield the space of memory to those who wish that we were never here. My new edited book, Arab American Public History, is now available from Temple University Press, and like a number of my works, it has been published at a terrifying moment for the communities…
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November 24, 2025 — The IU Indianapolis University Library has published an online, fully digital open-access archive of the Midwest Federation of American Syrian Lebanese Clubs (MFASLC). Containing over one thousand items ranging from annual convention programs and legal documents to photographs and correspondence among Arab American leaders, the archive is a unique addition to…
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This past summer, I rejoined the staff of the Journal of Africana Religions, which I co-founded with Sylvester Johnson in 2011, as interim managing editor. When I left the journal in 2021, the journal was fully staffed. We had recruited three new editors; Prof. Johnson and long-time Managing Editor Jeremy Rehwaldt were also still serving.…
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It may be one of the most important projects on which I have ever worked. For the past couple years, I have served as lead scholar for Hidden Voices: Muslim Americans in United States History, a curriculum written for the New York City Department of Education (DOE), which operates the largest single public school district…
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Indianapolis, Ind. — Last week, IU Indianapolis Arabic and Islamic Studies Program Director Edward Curtis, the Gail M. and William M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts, took home the Chancellor’s Award for Civic Engagement, and then five days later, he received the Asian Student Union’s Faculty Leader of the Year Award. “I knew that…
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Originally appeared in Traces, Fall 2024, 48-54. Want to know more? You can research the Syrian Ladies Aid Society collection at the IU Indianapolis Library. Established in 1918 in Michigan City, Indiana, the Syrian Ladies Aid Society (SLAS) was a self-defined charitable organization that rendered mutual aid and supported the life of Syrian-Lebanese Christian communities…
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As lead author of the three historical panels to be installed on the South Street Extension of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, I was invited by cultural trail leader Kären Haley to give some brief remarks at the ribbon cutting on October 29, 2024. The selection of the sites for the panels was a team effort.…
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The Muslims of the Heartland audiobook, narrated by yours truly, is now available on Apple Books, Audible, Amazon, and other places. The audio is produced by Kent Vernon, the same sound engineer that worked on Arab Indianapolis: A Hidden History. The book tells the story of several Arabic-speaking Muslim families who settled in the Midwest before World War I and…
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On April 25, 2024, supporters of the Arab Indianapolis project were proud to dedicate the Syrian Quarter marker at Lucas Oil Stadium, where Syrian immigrants developed the first Arabic-speaking neighborhood in Indianapolis. Speakers included Maria Nimri, St. George Church member; Josh Chitwood, filmmaker of When We Were Syrian and descendant of a Syrian Quarter family;…
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Edward E. Curtis IV 