Michigan State University’s third annual Muslim Mental Health Conference will focus on the trauma of the past, the resilience of today and integration for the future for Muslim Americans in a post-Sept. 11 world.
The conference, “Accept: Learning the Art of Coexistence and Resilience in Conflicting Times,” begins at 8:30 a.m. March 26 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. It is being organized by Farha Abbasi, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Psychiatry, and Jose Herrera, a psychiatry resident and minority fellow.
“It has been a decade since 9/11, and we are attempting to look at the discrimination experienced within the Muslim community, how the community has responded and shown its resiliency and what can be done now to strengthen that community,” Abbasi said. “In the end, we want to discuss how we all move beyond the phobias attached to Islam and learn to co-exist peacefully.”
The keynote presentation, “Going Beyond Islamophobia,” will be given by Juan Cole, a history professor with the University of Michigan. U.S. Rep. Andre Carson from Indiana also will speak as a special guest.
The conference is sponsored by MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, MSU Institute of International Health and a U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration minority grant.
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Other supporters of the program include MSU’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies and Muslim Studies Program, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Clinton Township and the Unity Productions Foundation in Washington, D.C.
