Zahra Nasiruddin Jamal is a doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, researching Muslim voluntarism.
She has conducted field work on Muslim communities in North America, South Asia, the UK, Russia, and Tajikistan. Jamal has lectured on Islam at Harvard, Wells, and Emory, and has presented conference papers on giving and voluntarism among American Muslims, the cultural politics of Qawwalis, and faith and material culture in Tajikistan. She has published in The Pluralism Project, The Ismaili USA, and the Encyclopedia of Islam in America (forthcoming 2007).
In a voluntary capacity, Jamal serves on the Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for the United States of America, and has assisted in conflict resolution and women’s rights projects for development organizations in Tajikistan. In 2005, she designed a project on Muslim Philanthropy in post-9/11 America for the Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program. As a guest of U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2006, Jamal engaged in dialogues on Muslim integration in Western countries, including through civic engagement and voluntarism.
Among numerous awards, she has held the Javits, Honorary Mellon, Harvard South Asian Initiative, Hearst, and Pluralism Project Fellowships.
