AMWRRIRaising Awareness Every Day
AMWRRIOver the course of the 2020-2021 academic year, AMWRRI has partnered with a
team of Marquette University researchers to interview Muslim Americans across the United States to discuss the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their daily lives, religious obligations, and overall perspectives. In this
edition of our newsletter, members of our research team reflect on their experiences and describe the process of
adapting our project goals in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countless communities across the United
States and the world in a wide variety of ways. To better understand the impact of the pandemic on Muslim
communities, AMWRRI has partnered with students and faculty from Marquette University. Through conducting
anonymous surveys and confidential interviews, we seek to hear the experiences and tell the stories of Muslim
families and individuals whose daily lives have been changed by the pandemic.
Over the course of 14 months, AMWRRI and the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) partnered with other local
community organizations to understand the experiences and needs of Muslims with differences of ability. Through
focus groups, anonymous surveys, and personal interviews with Muslims with differences of ability and their
families, Imams, and healthcare providers, we have gathered valuable information that can be found in our
“AMWRRI Disability Digital Archive.”
Arab and Muslim Americans continue to become threaded to the fabric of this nation, and it is only right that
they must be represented and their communities’ needs must be emphasized. By partnering with Milwaukee’s key
Muslim communities and assembling an interdisciplinary team of Marquette faculty and community members, AMWRRI
seeks to tell the stories of Muslim Americans living with differences of ability. AMWRRI’s goal is to raise
awareness and increase understanding of disability within these communities in an effort to make all community
members feel welcome and supported.
Arab and Muslim women display their finest cultural dress when attending special celebrations such as henna
nights, weddings, and other group or community gatherings. The significance of wearing cultural dress while
attending these celebrations surpasses its aesthetic meaning and reflects more on the deep connections that
women establish with such an attire.
AMWRRI continues its mission of documenting the experiences and histories of Arab and Muslim communities in greater Milwaukee. Since 2010, it has addressed the dearth of information and marginalization of these immigrant groups, by creating an oral archive where men and women share their stories of immigration, integration, and identity.
AMWRRI newsletter connects women in the community together. The newsletter encourages women to be active
participants in writing the issues that concern them the most. By publicizing other women’s success stories it
spreads awareness of women’s potential to raise above their situations and encourages other women to pursue
similar paths. These women, through the newsletter, now have an avenue where their voices can be heard and where
they can learn from each others’ experiences. This helps women shift their position from dependent mothers,
daughters, and wives to independent individuals who are able to lead their lives and shape their destines.